Last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to attend the World Domination Summit. Yes, that is the name of it and I already signed up for next year. The theme of this gathering centers around how to live a remarkable life in a conventional world. What’s not to love about that?!
The speakers at the conference were inspiring and motivating. They taught us about ways in which to build your community, take consistent – ninja focused – action, and prevent the urgent from taking precedent over the important. They demonstrated how they merged their vision boards with their spread sheets to create successful organizations that are changing the lives of people in their backyard and around the globe.
Interestingly, a common thread through each of their stories was that at some point they had to decide that if they wanted to achieve their dream and live the life they desired, they needed to take a leap of faith – to move forward without having it all figured out first. All of them described how difficult it was to ‘let go’ of the secure and known and move out of their comfort zone – which is where all the good stuff happens.
One of the speakers talked about how ‘not letting go’ is like clinging to the tow rope after you’ve fallen water skiing. This immediately resurrected a memory for me. Each summer, our family would travel a couple of hours away from our home to a lake for two weeks. This was our only vacation each year and we loved it! We joined 2 other families and crammed into a 4 bedroom house. (Yes, 4 bedrooms for 6 adults and 10 kids) I’m not sure how this happened but one day a ski boat appeared with a pair of water skis. My dad, who was pretty much always game to try anything, decided to give it a go. As I watched from the dock, he got up on the skis and promptly did a face plant in the water. For reasons unknown to anyone, he wouldn’t let go of the tow rope. (not quite sure why the driver of the boat didn’t stop either but that’s just one of many unanswered questions here) I stood their screaming with everyone else, “Let go of the rope! Let go of the rope!”, which he ultimately did but not without having swallowed a ton of lake water. When he was asked afterward what he was thinking he simply replied, “I thought if I let go I would drowned. (Granted, this was pre-life jacket or seat belt days…but still) Even back then I recall thinking, “The rest of us thought you were going to drowned hanging on!”.
If it feels like you’re taking on water, or your dream is slipping away – ask yourself this question, “What single brave thing do I need to do today?” (This was posed to us by a terrific speaker, Michael Hyatt) It doesn’t have to be bungy jumping or selling all your property. It can be a smaller step, maybe just showing up somewhere and being yourself. Whatever it is for you, it’s likely the fear of taking that step is much more painful than actually doing it. And the more you practice taking those small (and sometimes large) brave steps, you’ll realize that you can jump, and the net will appear!
