Player Vs Spectator – Which Role Serves Your Dream The Most?

Hi, I’m pursuing my dream. It’s been several years since I made the hard choice to do so. And so far, I have gone through a ton of experiences in such a short period of time. Many of those experiences have been somewhat “awesome”. While most of them have been utterly soul-crushing, to say the least.

But I guess… that is what is expected, wouldn’t you say so as well?

This is no secret, but you must always be ready to experience both the ups and downs of the pursuit. When things go well, appreciate the accomplishment and effort it took.

When things don’t go the way you planned them to, appreciate the lesson in the failure and the fact that you chose to play the game.

It’s called being a good sport.

No professional football or basketball team is flawless. No team is completely hopeless either. You win some you lose some. It’s part of the game.

But the thing that a professional team represents, is a willingness to strive to be better than they were yesterday… Always.

This applies to the pro teams as much as it applies to those seeking to accomplish grand goals.

And what I think is mind-blowing that most accomplished dreamers never realize initially… is that this attitude applied consistently over time… will change you.

I have and continue to experience this change. I’m not the same person that started out on this journey to accomplish my goals.

For example, I’m no longer as fearful about things as I used to be.

I co-founded a software company that I work on full-time. Over a year ago, I was scared to death of having to convince random strangers (in person) why they would need to adapt our software solutions.

But as of the time of this post, I was about to sit down with 3 business owners I have never met during the course of the week. I’m excited… but my former self would never have been. Instead, he would have been scared to death to even consider getting out of bed on the day of the first meeting.

All the ideas and actions I took when I started, were not as effective or as practical as the ones I have and take today.

This fact can be compared to that of a basketball player who can’t even remember just how terrible he/she was when first learning to dribble.

By deciding to play the game… you get better at the sport. You may not win initially. You may not win all the time, but you are guaranteed 100% improvement if you learn to focus on getting better and smarter about your efforts.

I remember how easily I could be defeated by colleagues who challenged me about my dream’s practicality at the time. I have a feeling, that after having experienced the business from the inside, this defeat would not come so easily again if I faced them today.

Because over that time, I have been getting better at developing myself by PRACTICING in the business. I doubt that they have been getting better at finding ways that my business was even more impractical. They don’t have the time.

But I do… for my goals.

Again, had I not been “in the game”, none of these challenges would have existed. But more importantly, none of the opportunities to get better at overcoming them would have existed either.

I can imagine how so many people are defeated simply by the thoughts within their own minds as opposed to an actual track record.

One of the things I do a lot like a strategy to help improve myself is that I seek the company of those in a similar line of work that is actually better than me. You probably didn’t know this, but the challenges I get from them are more significant than those offered by spectators or those that have a not-so-deep understanding of the industry I’m in.

I’m kidding. Of course, you knew this :).

You have to be extremely mindful of your thoughts and actions when it comes to your dream.

Am I wrong to say that whatever thoughts, that are especially negative or defeating, that a first-time dreamer has about the path that lay ahead… are almost completely not realistic?

In the case of an accomplished pro-football player versus a football spectator… who among them would have the best plan on how to get started playing professional football?

Now apply that outside the football field. Between the person that has never started a venture, versus the person that owns several… who would provide the best plan on how to grow a business?

Now think music artist, martial artist, blogger, writer, game developer, shoe salesperson, engineer, brick manufacturer… etc.

What about you? What do you aspire to be? Whose plan are you planning to go with to help excel your career or take your life to the next level? Yours? A person from an industry outside yours? A person that is not yet successful in the industry you are in? An accomplished professional in the industry outside yours? Or an accomplished professional form inside your industry?

Do you believe that all these different people would give you the same exact plan?

What do you know? What are you researching?

Now imagine a chef taking cooking advice from the world’s best mechanic.

I have observed a lot over this short time that I have been trying to grow myself and my business. A lot of truths and misunderstandings about what it takes to succeed in your pursuit. Research (reading) and on-the-job experiences have made me pay close attention to the actual transformation that has been taking place within me.

Year one for the persistently growing dreamer will not be the same as year two. Nor will it be the same in year three.

If you are doing it, that is playing the game, over time, you will understand the game. Over time you will get better at the game.

That is a fact.

Because growth comes in lessons learned through victories and defeats that those who spectate can only hope to imagine.

You were never born with the ability to tie your shoelaces. You learned. You got better.

You were never born with the ability to read and write in English. You learned. You got better.

You were never born with the ability to use a smartphone. You learned. You got better.

And in the same respect, you were never born with the ability to readily accomplish great goals. That my friend, you will have to learn. And if you make it a priority, you will get better.

Whether you choose to or not, is completely up to you. Because all your success, including the degree to which you succeed, will be solely determined by just how ready you will be to face the challenges that come with playing the game.

Napolean Hill once had a conversation with Thomas A. Edison about how he managed to finally figure out how to power the incandescent light bulb successfully.

Thomas Edison had told him about his many failures. But he explained it in a way that isn’t very common to the way many look at challenges.

He said that he finally had to succeed in making it work because he had exhausted all the ways in which it could not.

Think about that for a minute.

If more men and women believed in searching for the truth of what success actually takes, they would eventually end up realizing that the biggest challenge one has to overcome in his/her pursuit… is the default tendency to give up at the first, second and 10th sign of defeat.

Failure is as real as your desire to make it so.

Success is just the same.

If there is a way to get to the top, it is no one else’s job but your own to figure out what it will take to get there. And when you do figure out the price it will take, then decide whether or not you are worthy of getting to that top by deciding whether or not your willing to pay that price.

#makeProgressNotExcuses