My heart was beating, my palms were sweaty and I was short of breath. I looked at the task ahead and got light headed. Standing at the top of the Atlantis’ Leap of Faith, I finally understood the meaning of “steel yourself”, so I followed the lead of my 7-year-old daughter, closed my eyes and slid. Fast forward 3 years and the symptoms were the same, only this time I wasn’t at the top of a slide. Instead, I was discussing my pending website. I had taken my domain name out of mothballs, signed up for hosting, purchased a blog template and was ready to go. Now, I just had to figure out how to do it! You could call it, a Leap of Faith…so I took a deep breath and leaped!
A funny thing happened once I leapt. My heartbeat slowed. I started learning new things. I figured out how Twitter really worked and started having fun tweeting. (I love that many of the gurus I follow actually interact with their followers in real time!) I giggled as I installed my first word press plug-in and it actually worked. I figured out (am figuring out) the rhythm of a blog and how to produce helpful, instructive and fun content in a structured way.
Through all that anxiety, I found 3 principles I think you might find helpful on your own leap:
1. Just Start. Don’t wait to feel ready. I don’t think you’ll ever feel ready. But you can start now and you’ll get “readier and readier” as you do it. I promise. It will feel a lot more comfortable the more you do it.
2. Find some mentors. Look for people who are successfully doing what you are doing and follow them. There are a number of people who I now feel like are my friends and gurus and mentors. Starting with Michael Hyatt at www.michaelhyatt.com. His book and conference Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
literally changed my life. I’ve met him and even had my picture taken with him – I’m sure he wouldn’t know me. But boy-howdy has he been an influence in my life. His name comes up in conversation in our house as though he were my uncle! 🙂 And there are many others. In today’s world of connection, reach out and find someone to emulate. My next challenge is to get my podcast launched in April – and thanks to my mentors John Lee Dumas’ Entrepreneur on Fire and Pat Flynn, I’m on the right track now. And, thanks to my mentors, I know I’m sure to be successful.
3. Follow your passion. I used to hear all the time, “if you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life”. I thought I knew what that meant, but I can say with all transparency, for the first time in my life, I’m actually jumping out of bed in the morning eager to learn and do and grow. It’s all because I finally found that ‘sweet spot’ that’s my passion point. I’ve talked about that before, but now I’m living it and it’s awesome. Check out my website for tips on finding yours. I have some checklists you can access and other helps available for you there.
And my final thought…have fun! Life is short and you want to make sure you are living yours to your fullest. Taking a Leap of Faith is a great way to start.
Question: When was the last time you took a Leap of Faith? What did it look like? What did you learn? What Leap of Faith do you need to take?