In the movie Divergent (2014), the main character ‘Tris’ played by Shailene Woodley is at one point forced to jump into a dark abyss. She hesitates, closes her eyes and takes a leap, after a seemingly endless fall, she lands on a safety net and her eyes snap open in relief.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQLd_etD5RY
Taking a creative leap often looks like you are jumping into that abyss albeit without a safety net. For many of us, it actually took the universe giving us a big shove rather than any inclination to jump on our part. We would have been happy staying bored, comfortable and most of all safe. Nobody says it’s easy and sometimes the safety net is not there, but if you don’t try, it will always be at the back of your mind. you will keep asking yourself..
What if?
Yes what if, it doesnt work, I fail spectacularly and have to retreat to the mountains, stop shaving and become a hermit?
Either it will work or it won’t. If it fails you will learn some key lessons and maybe try again or perhaps realise it wasn’t for you after all but this other thing you discovered while experimenting is actually what you want to do.
I always say that it’s not the fear of failure but the fear of succeeding that holds us back. You worry and then what? What if this idea actually takes off? We would then have to step up to the plate and be forced to be even better, to learn more and move past our comfort zone, to be honest, this can be a scary prospect.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” — Marianne Williamson
And so what?
So what if it fails, so what if it takes off. You lived and you learned, you may even change the world in your own little way and this just might be the whole idea.
So what if they laugh? A lot of times we are afraid of becoming the butt of peoples jokes because of our failed endeavors, but as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, it takes a lot of misses before you finally get it right. it’s all about perspectives, they are not failures, they are lessons.
What are you waiting for?
“Today Initiate”
Jump!
