Create The Moment

Have you ever heard the phrase "Carpe Diem"?  Okay, right, who hasn't?  It's a phrase a lot of people use when they are sending off a friend on to a new voyage in life.  "Sieze the day!"  Do something great!  It's encouraging.  For some, it means to take advantage of what you can do with your business; for others, it means to live the life you have left because you've been told you have six months to live.  Sieze the day.  Be ready for the moment when it comes.

For me?  For me it means, look at all of the other times you've said this, and let a great opportunity pass.  Let me give you some insight into my personal life.  Most people see me as an optimist.  I am eager and ready.  I believe the best in people, and hope for the greatest things.  But the truth is, I hide in that.

I fear the worst.  I assume failure.  Here, try this story: in high school I was in love with this one girl.  She was "everything I ever wanted".  And she had little to no interest in me.  But I was hung up, waiting for her.  I passed up the opportunity to date a lot of other nice girls because I wanted to be ready when the opportunity presented itself.  It never did.


I was so busy waiting for the moment to happen, and thinking about the great things that would come out of this relationship, that I missed every chance I had for something better.

Look at your life.  What opportunities have you missed because you were waiting for the right moment?  Now think about your business.  If you're an entrepreneur (or you want to be), are you still working another job to support yourself?  Are you waiting to quit for that right moment?  If you already own your business, are you waiting for some exact amount of money to be in the bank account before you take your next step?  And is that next step the one thing you need to do to create the ultimate success?

I was at Jimmy John's tonight.  I read something about Warren Buffett.  His son was in trouble at his job, Warren asked, "Is there greater risk to stay or to leave?"  His son realized that the greater risk was to stay, and so quick.  But I have to ask, is the greater reward to stay or to leave?

A lot of fancy business people will tell you that you must always choose the path of least risk.  Did Bill Gates do that when he sold a product to IBM he didn't own?  Did the Wright Brothers do that when they decided to fly?  Don't get me wrong, I highly respect Warren Buffett, but he has.  He's trying to keep the status quo.  For those of us who have not, he need to buck the system.

Waiting for the right moment to come along, that's like me waiting for Warren to call me and offer me a million dollars.  It will never happen.  It's time to forget "Carpe Diem" and replace it with "Face Diem".  Make the day.  Create the moment that you're looking for.

I have a friend who loves Def Leopard.  He lives for them.  His name is Ryan, and his goal was to meet the band.  Ryan took matters into his own hands, and has traveled many times to see them, and invested in their website.  There was a contest to meet them, and Ryan entered, four times.  Ryan created the moment.  His goal was to not leave the band any option, but to meet him.  Yes, I said it, Ryan wanted the band to meet him.  He succeeded.  You can view his meeting below this post.

But when was the last time you said, "I'm ready for Warren Buffet to meet me"?  When was the last time you said, "I'm ready for my investors to invest"?  No, we often wonder "when will my investors want to invest?"  By waiting for the moment, we're choosing to fail.  (Yes, I realize that sometimes you have to wait, but if you're hungry, and need to pay the bills, waiting isn't an option.)

A teacher at my school once said, "You already have your 'no'."  If you don't ask, you've accepted no as the answer.  So ask.  Go get what you want.

I don't care if you have to wait outside of Warren Buffet's house for weeks on end in the rain, go get your yes.  Create your moment.  Get yourself in front of the people you want to meet.  People respect those who try and fail more than those who fail by not trying.

Get the fear out of your head, and dive in; the water's fine.

But, hey, I'm just some guy who likes to look at airplanes, so what do I know?