Follow or Settle?

Follow Your Dreams or Settle for Less?

I absolutely LOVE that picture! You've been around me and my recordings and/or blog long enough to know that I firmly believe that, sometimes, BLUNT is the best approach.

And, this... is straight to the point!

No sugar coating. No tip-toeing around the thought. Straight on and in your face.

Hey, let's admit it - most of us don't like to really think of our life choices in this way. We like to downplay the emphasis a bit so that we don't feel so bad about our choices.

But hey - plain and simple...the choice is YOURS about what you want for YOUR life! (Hmmm, where have you heard THAT before?).

YOU decide (and no one else) if you want your life to be average or memorable. You.

Another way to look at this is as follows: Will you follow your dreams and live a memorable life OR will you settle for less and live an average life?

In today's podcast I share a scene from the movie, "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney that my wife and I watched the other night. Now, if you listened to the podcast (or if you listen to it AFTER reading this) you will discover that I was not really overwhelmed by the movie itself. As a matter of fact I couldn't even remember the name of the movie and had to look it up on the computer before typing up this entry for my blog.

Anyway.... (I digress)

In this movie, the character played by Mr. Clooney has the job of flying around country and letting employees of different companies know that they have been fired. Wow, wouldn't you love THAT job? He and the others that had the same job had some "canned" line that they would share with the "newly-fired" people on the other side of the desk in order to try to give them something positive to think about concerning their future. They gave some "blah-blah" line about the great opportunity that awaited them now that they are sitting where they are sitting and that many great people began right where they were at.

Does it shock you that I call this a "blah-blah" line?

Oh, the line in and of itself is TRUE and a great truth! However, the one's saying that line didn't believe it any more than the shocked person sitting across from them. There was no belief in the statement by anyone in that room.

However, the character played by Mr. Clooney takes it a step further in one instance and actually seems to talk from the heart to an older gentleman who has just learned that he has been "let go".

The older gentleman shows Clooney a picture of his kids and asks, "What do I tell them?" and goes on to talk about the fact that he believe that his children looked up to him and admired him for his work and that now this admiration would be gone. Mr. Clooney pulls a shocker and tells the man that he didn't think his children admired him as much as he thought.

You can imagine the older gentleman's thoughts on THAT opinion!

But, here we go - Clooney asks why did he think that children admire professional athletes (beyond their ability to hit home runs or dunk a basketball). Clooney declares it is because these athletes have followed their dream and that children admired then for following their dreams.

Hey, how many times were we told at SOME POINT that "what we wanted to be when we grew up" was an impossibility? Talk about crushing your dreams!

Mr. Clooney went on to point out that he noticed that the gentleman across the desk had actually gone to a French culinary school before taking this job that he had occupied for the past several years (20 - 30 years).

"What, initially, did they dangle in front of you - what dollar figure did they offer you in order for you to give up on your dream and take the job? And when were you planning to quit and follow your dream? And at what point did you decide to stop following your dream and just settle for less?"

The gentleman admitted that, indeed, he had planned to work that job for just a short period of time and then he planned to go back and follow his dream of becoming a chef and that, indeed, he had settled for less than his dream.

Friend, although this is from a movie script it happens every single day and it is also quite likely that it has happened or IS happening to you!

So, as we begin this discussion this week, ask yourself this question: "Will I follow my dreams or will I settle for less?"

Only YOU can answer that question.

We'll continue this discussion tomorrow but, until then...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike