Let’s cut straight to the chase. No sugarcoating.
Yes. Of course you have to give up one dream for another.
How many Olympic ring gymnasts do you know that are world-class writers, who’ve traveled to all 197 countries?
Zero.
Do you think that’s a coincidence?
I know one guy who’s traveled to all countries and written multiple bestsellers. But even Chris Guillebeau is far from being referenced forever and so far, I haven’t seen him with an Olympic gold medal.
I know, I know, the world wide web wants you to think you can really have it all, but no, you can’t.
People are so worried about which of their dreams they’ll end up sacrificing that they end up sacrificing them all on the altar of mediocrity.
Everything comes with a price. It’s your job to figure out…
- What that price is.
- If you’re willing to pay it.
When his pilot Mike Flint asked Warren Buffett for help with choosing his life goals, Buffett told him to make a list of his top 25 career goals. When he was done, he asked him to circle the top 5.
Mike thought that was it. He’d work on his top 5 as best as he could and would distribute the rest of his time among the other 20.
“No. Wrong approach, Mike. The other 20 are now those you have to avoid at all costs. Don’t spend a second on them until you’ve reached the other 5.”
And that’s just career goals. For life goals, the list has to be even shorter.
Take it one life goal at a time. If you ever hit it, set a new one.
Life goals are called life goals because they take a lifetime to achieve.
A lifetime of giving it your best shot. Not a lifetime of half-assing. And yes, you will regret things.
- You will regret that you didn’t have time to go out with friends every Saturday night.
- You will regret that you didn’t find the love of your life sooner.
- You will regret that you didn’t play all the Xbox games you wanted to play.
Life isn’t about avoiding regret. It’s about minimizing regret.
Those regrets are all ones I would gladly pay in exchange for knowing I’ve given my all to that thing I can’t go a day without thinking about.
The decisions I try to make are those I think I will regret the least when I’m 70, 80, 90 years old.
When you want to buy something in a store, you know its price is not being able to pay for other things. Sometimes, you can’t pay the price at all.
Life is no different. So if you want to write, write. Take writing as far as you can go and when you can’t go any more, look in the mirror and ask:
“This is the price I have to pay. Can I pay it? Or would I rather live with the regret of stopping here?”
Those are your options. Whichever one you pick, there’s a short guy in Munich, rooting for you.
And he loves to write. So he gives it all he’s got.
