Once upon a time I had a coworker whom I looked up to. His intelligence and reasoning marked very high by my standard. I always enjoyed picking his brain on certain topics. Despite these great strengths, his flaw was an ego that didn’t allow him to appreciate anyone else’s ideas or opinions. His idea was always the best. I considered him more brilliant than I and tended to agree with him on 99% of things he had to say. It was that last one percent that really split the difference between the direction of our lives.
My brilliant coworker chose safety and security for his life. His argument was sound. There was no arguing back against the 25-year plan he disclosed to me one night in the E.R. triage area. He saw a future he could solidly see in his mind with a guarantee of its success. He will work for the county of Los Angeles, move up the county ladder, and retire with a high salary and full pension with medical benefits for life. His wife and children will be taken care and the county will ensure his family receives what they’re entitled if anything were to happen him. He just has endure twenty-five years of work and he’s done. I sat in silence as the cogs turned in my mind. Yeah… he’s right. But a voice echoed from deep within my soul into my mental theater, “No.”
The dumber me decided I want to start a business. I had no clue what kind of business I’d start or what the name would be. Everything was decided on the fly. From there I tried everything. Provided a service, created products, resold products, researched SaaS, paid for mergers & acquisitions courses, and three years later: I make a monthly profit equivalent to a full pension payment at my previous salary. I worked three years on this when my brilliant coworker will have to work thirty for the same dream. Who knows where I will be in three more years but my goal isn’t to go big and sell out. It’s to make lots of cash with no time required. This will free my mind to go after things that really inspire me. I’m just one man and I don’t need my name in history books or desire power over people. I want to be the best person I can be and leave people better than I found them.
Sometimes being smart means you can see all the ways you can fail. Being stupid enough to try is practicing faith to the point a miracle is born. That’s what it means to just go after something with all your heart, haters be damned. So get out there and make that phone call, send that email, and ponder that next step. Just because someone out there may be smarter than you, doesn’t mean they have the bliss of ignorance on their side.