Do you want success? Do you want accomplishment? Do you want recognition? Do you want results? My friend Chris Watson, strength and conditioning coach, has coined one phrase that I think sums up everything required for those goals: “GO F***ING GET IT!”
Recently I was having a debate on my Facebook page with another friend about the merits of taking risks when opportunity presents versus preparing studiously and hoping the preparation manifests into opportunity. My friend argued that it was better to make sure you were adequately prepared before “rushing into something.” My reply was simple:
“Good things come to those who go and get them. Regret comes to those who wait for someone else to get it for them.”
This sparked further debate, with my friend arguing that too many people rush into things unprepared and live to regret not having waited. The only problem I have with the wait and see approach is that sometimes opportunities only come around once. I’ll take acting when the opportunity presents over spending years preparing for an opportunity that may never come around again.
What good is preparation if you never have cause to use it? Why waste an opportunity based purely on self doubt? Jump in there and take it! Sink or swim!
The problem as I see it is that most people are so terrified of leaving behind their “security” that they never take a chance and thus never achieve what they truly want in life. Dreams go unfulfilled, goals go unattained, and once passionate fires reduce to dead ash.
Right at this very minute there are hundreds of millions of people with college educations, hundreds of thousands with genius IQ, millions with incredible artistic skills and abilities – acquired and harnessed through years of devotion – working shitty jobs they hate, married to people they don’t like, raising kids they resent so they can retire with a pension that won’t support their quality of life. Unfortunate, that’s what “security” gets you.
Of course, then it is always someone else’s fault, or just the “cruel realities of life.” We couldn’t possibly take responsibilities for our own decisions, our own actions, or more commonly; our lack of action.
Hesitation is a killer.
When I first got the idea of becoming a full time self defence instructor, I was excited. I was excited, but in the same way you’d be excited about the idea of winning a million dollars; it’d be great if it happened, but it seems highly improbable. The problem I had was my own perceived lack of credibility. I was just a 19 year old kid with some martial arts training; I hadn’t been a cop, a soldier, or anything “cool” like that. Therefore, making a career out of teaching people to survive real violence – something I’d only had the briefest of experiences with – seemed unlikely. I doubted myself.
I use to be in the “prepare yourself so you’re ready” camp, so to overcome this hurdle I decided to change my university major to psychology and start bouncing in nightclubs. The plan was, if I just became really knowledgeable about and experienced with violence, eventually something would come up. I spent years studying, reading, working in shitty jobs, getting spat at, hit with bottles, stomped on, capsicum sprayed… all in the name of “preparing myself” for the opportunity that may somehow manifest. You know what? The opportunity didn’t come up. Nothing changed for me and I didn’t start to experience success until I made the decision to, as my friend Chris would say “Go fucking get it!”
Fortune favours the bold.
When I finally realised this, I decided to back myself and put myself into the universe with the knowledge I had acquired. I had to trust that indeed I had something to offer. I had to believe that I was put on earth to perform this role and throw myself at it. Only 12 months later I was earning a sustainable living, travelling the country, doing what I loved to do. Everything fell into place, but only once I made the decision to just do it.
Battles are not won by the passive.
Now, I have no problem with people putting in the proverbial “hard yards” to achieve their goals. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m currently doing had I not put in the effort to learn my martial art, work the shitty jobs, expose myself to the underbelly of human nature and actually learn lessons from it all rather than just becoming angry and bitter. That was a necessary part of the process for me. Similarly, if your dream is to be a surgeon, it’s best you go and do the study required to get there. Want to be a concert pianist? Go play your piano… now! Want to go to the Olympics? You better get back to training!
What matters is how long you sit back in the comfortable security of “preparation.” Are you prepared to back yourself if the opportunity is in front of your face but you haven’t finished your “preparation” yet? Are you going to stay on the ledge or are you going to jump? That’s the point where you decide your fate.
What I’ve found is that opportunities are seldom handed to you. Usually they come about because, through a serious of decisions, some of them probably taking some serious cojones, you put yourself in the right place at the right time. Richard Branson probably wasn’t “prepared” to run a business empire when he started Student Magazine at age 16, but he figured it out and seems to have done okay for himself, don’t you think? Truth is, there are a lot of “prepared” people out there not achieving a fraction of their potential because they can’t summon the courage to risk their precious status quo in pursuit of the life they want to live. It is natural, but at least to me, it is profoundly sad.
Own your life.
Now, if what you truly want out of life is a nice stable existence in the same town with the same friends, raising your family and going through the motions at work for 37.28 hours per week, go for it. Be the best you can be at that. Raise awesome kids. Be a great neighbour. Even if your dreams don’t involve great risk, refuse mediocrity and strive to be the best at it. This article is not necessarily directed at you.
This article is directed at those that have the wild dreams; those that have the ambitions that are perhaps a little too daring, a little too unattainable. Stop crying, stop hiding and stop calling it preparation if it’s merely a guise for your fear. Take the leap. GO F***KING GET IT!
Is there a chance you will crash and burn? Yeah, absolutely. I believe that true greatness cannot be achieved without risk. I have taken some massive risks over the past few years that have paid off handsomely for me, and I will continue to take more in the future. Will some of the risks backfire? Almost certainly, I’d imagine.
Whatever the case, I’d be more than happy in 20 years to compare lives with someone who sat and prepared for that moment that I took and ran with. I’m pretty sure I know who’ll have better stories, more scars and less regrets.
Live vibrantly!
Joe
Great post Joe.