This piece of advice sounds radical, and to some, unreal, but it is solid to the core.
What do these people have in common?
Sir Isaac Newton? Lady Gaga? Abraham Lincoln? Steven Jobs? Henry Ford? Bill Gates? John Pemberton? Alexander Fleming? Martin Luther King? Copernicus? Galileo?
I could name thousands of people just like those above – but what made them stand-out in life, what made them succeed in their dreams is this…. they believed what they believed and they DID what they believed. In other words, in spite of being treated as a heretical criminal, and forced into house arrest for many years because of his scientific discovery which violated the doctrines of the Catholic Church, Galileo maintained that Earth was not the center of things, but rather, that it, amongst other planets revolved around the sun. He was right – everyone else who attempted to shut him up, was wrong. Bill Gates so believed that he could create a household computer system, that he developed and eventually launched the most successful computer company in history. Martin Luther King, against all odds – believed in equality and his name alone has carried that message across the world. Pemberton developed a soft-drink which remains the largest selling cola in history. Lady Gaga? Well, you can figure it out, but from just another girl living in New Jersey, in just years she has become one of the largest pop-stars due to her unique stylized performance and music.
Achievers in life are people who first and foremost believe in THEMSELVES. They do things, not because others tell them to, but because THEY believe it is right. It doesn’t mean that everyone has to strike out on a new road, or invent a new product – that isn’t the point. The point is this – if you want to dance ballet and you weigh 300 pounds, and everyone around you tells you that you can never succeed and would be better suited to being a sumo wrestler – you better do what you want to do. If you want to write and people repeatedly ask you how you expect to make a living at it, then go write – because if you follow that “safe” road, the “collective” ideas about what is “good for you” – you may never really achieve your dreams.
Frank Sinatra had it right with his song, “I did it my way.”
Do it your way – live the life that YOU want to live. It isn’t always the easiest road – but it most certainly is the road which empowers YOU.
The Unquantifiable 