Door #1 or Door #2? The Decision that Could Haunt You Forever…

Door #1 or Door #2? The Decision that Could Haunt You Forever…

 

“You can fail at something you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.” – Jim Carrey

The Decision that Haunts Us

I try to be as real about things as possible around here, so you have the best and most realistic chance of doing the work you can’t not do.

That’s why last week I wrote about the dark side of entrepreneurship, and the week before I covered our unbelievable possibility.

But here’s the the thing.

Each of us has one real choice to make, and today, I’d like you to make it. There are only two options…

Door #1: Pursue a life and career that matters to you. (Seems risky.)

The trouble with this option is that it will suck sometimes. Whether you’re joining a big, inspiring company or building your own thing, sometimes it’ll be scary. There will be sleepless nights, lots of challenges, bipolar-like emotions, intense decisions, high stress and all kinds of uncertainty. There are some long hours, frustrating discussions, money problems and at times you’ll feel you’re not making as much progress as you hoped. And after all the diehard dedication and hard work, you could totally fail or get fired.

or…

Door #2: Pursue a life and career that doesn’t matter to you. (Seems safe.)

The trouble with this option is that it will also sometimes suck. It’ll be scary, there will be sleepless nights, lots of challenges, bipolar-like emotions, intense decisions, high stress and all kinds of uncertainty. There are some long hours, frustrating discussions, money problems and at times you’ll feel you’re not making as much progress as you hoped. And after all the diehard dedication and hard work, you could also totally fail or get fired.

Either way, things will be hard.

And that’s the beauty of it.

Odds are that if you spend your life slaving away doing work you can’t stand with people you don’t like to support a cause you don’t believe in, you’ll get to have all those same experiences and emotions. The same goes for having a job or career that’s just “okay”.

Both doors come with highs and lows, and neither will always be easy. That’s just how life works.

But there is one significant difference between the two…

With Door #2, there’s a good chance that in 10, 20 or 30 years you’ll wish you had spent all that time, effort and life doing something that actually mattered to you – making some type of a difference for yourself and those around you.

In an uncertain world, Door #2 comes with one near certainty – regret.

And I see that as the biggest risk of all.

You’ll wake up in a decade and wish you would have chosen Door #1. And you’ll know you didn’t because complacency got the better of you. Because you weren’t sure of the first steps to take.

All Door #1 requires is an extra level of intention and awareness.

Know who you are and make decisions based on your own ideas, vision and values as opposed to someone else’s.

That is the only real difference. Otherwise the paths behind the two doors could look identical.

But you’ll know the difference. You can probably feel it right now.

But you wanna know the best part?

You can still open Door #1 right now.

But the longer you wait, the harder the knob is to turn.

As Jim Carrey says, “You can fail at something you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.”

So, which will it be?

Lean back in your chair for 60 seconds right now and think about it.

It’s not about risking it all.

In fact, it’s quite the contrary.

If you’re with us, write “Door #1” in the comments. If you’re not, then tell us how we can help.

Remember, you have tens of thousands of us in your corner, from all over the world.

That’s why Live Your Legend exists.

And something tells me that’s why you’re reading this.

-Scott

 Image Credit: Taken by me while exploring Santorini just before sunrise. See more of the adventure on Instagram