Never quit. Achieve Your Dreams

I was out on my roadbike today (yes a PEDAL bike, they do still make those) and I was kicking ass just pushing along fighting the wind and wishing I was home. My legs ached and my lungs worked hard and I looked at the road ahead and even though I was tired, I HAD to press on because I was 30 kilometers from home, had no cell phone, and no other way home.

After my ride, I was out grocery shopping with my wife and daughter and we bumped into a friend who has 2 small kids. Her husband fell from the rafters of a barn a few months ago, suffered massive trauma and died a few days later. She possesses a strength that I have a hard time grasping.

While these situations are drastically different, having them both happen in one day led me to realize something about life and the reasons people fail at things. The reason is that we allow ourselves to have options with failure being one of them.

Think about it: - Dieters give up on eating healthy and getting fit because they have the option to eat crappy foods and be lazy. - Smokers fail to quit because they give themselves the option to just go buy more smokes when they can't hack it anymore. - The unhappy 9-5 worker keeps slugging away at their dead end job that they hate because they are afraid to reach out and take a chance on a new venture and they have that cushy comfortable spot to fall back into.

The list could go on and on.

I am a part-time musician and I once read an interviewer with a guy called Mike Portnoy from the progressive rock band Dream Theater. The interviewer asked Mike what he would have done had music not panned out for him. What was his back up plan?

Mike told the interviewer that he never had a back-up plan as they are just an excuse to fail and they allow you a way out. He decided he wanted to be a professional musician and from that point on he refused to let anything stop him. Mike has gone on to win more drumming awards than any other rock drummer.

So I ask you? What will you let stand in your way of you reaching your goals and dreams? Never quit, remove it as an option and I think you'll be surprised at what you're able to achieve.

Mike