The Power is In Your Hands

(Psst. This is also a podcast! Listen here!)

I had to have a conversation with myself the other day. I literally talked to myself outloud. It felt like an urge I had to get out. I live on my own in a house which really gives me that gift but I never really use it.

So anyway, at the end of the year I ended my steady job. The job that gave me a paycheck every two weeks, one where I worked from home, worked on things I enjoyed, made my own schedule. Literally everything I’ve ever wanted. I quit it. For one reason – I felt my growth stunting and with that,  my inspiration diminishing. I had gotten stagnant. Stagnant in the hours just like the 9-5 office jobs would do to me. Check some boxes, clock out, clock in, do it all again. Which truly sucked because I LIKED the job. It had a lot of benefits. 

So I decided that at the end of the year, I would quit this job and go out on my own as a freelancer. I had already had a few freelance clients helping them with their podcasts, videos and websites, but I knew I needed more clients than what I had.

A few nights after the New Year, I was having massive anxiety. I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to work or focus on anything. And when I did push myself to work I was always checking my phone, bored (or anxious) out of my mind. I was looking at social media more to take my mind off it all. I did, however, get a run in that day. Or else it would have been close to a complete loss. 

I have been reading this book called The Third Door by Alex Banayan which follows his adventure of getting to interview some of the most successful people in the world, get a publishing deal and write a book by the age of 19 by going above and beyond.

The Third Door is the concept that there are 3 doors to success, but he describes it as a club. The first door is the front door where everyone pays and there’s a long line. The second door is the back door, the one where all the VIPs get in. And the third door is the one where you try to get in the front and the back but they won’t let you so you scratch and claw and find another way in through some window. Basically, you do whatever it takes. 

But at the end of this anxiety ridden day, I sat down to eat dinner and started talking to myself. And I thought the message I was giving myself, could inspire you in some way.

So I ask,

Are you willing? I don’t care what you want. Anybody can want. But not everybody can be willing.

Sure, you can want to have the best body you’ve ever had…but are you willing?  Are you willing to exercise everyday? Are you willing to say no to the pies and the cookies and the take out? Now, remember, we’re talking about having the best body you’ve ever had. Not just lose 10 pounds and look good in a bikini. We’re talking about the best body you’ve ever had. The body you’ve ALWAYS wanted. The body that helps you move throughout the world. The body that takes care of you. The vessel that allows your purpose to flow through. Whatever that body looks and FEELS like to you, would you be willing to do the things to experience it?

If you want something you’ve never had, you’re going to have to do things you’ve never done. 

You have a business idea that you want to become your income. Ok you want it, but are you willing? I’m not talking about a side gig. You want this to work to pay your bills, give you freedom, allow you to share your gift with more people, use this money to go on vacations and donate to whoever you want? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen? Whatever it takes. Are you willing to call up 50 people in a day to tell them about your business? Let’s even take it down, are you willing to call up 20 people? 10 people? Are you willing to hand out flyers in the streets? Go to different businesses and share it with them?

I don’t care if you’re a rapper, or a hairdresser, or a comedian. A lot of people like rap music, a lot of people need a haircut, and a lot of people like laughing! And those people have money! It would make no sense to go up to a dog! Ya gotta go up to PEOPLE!

And you don’t even have to beg for business! You know why? Because you’re asking 20 people a day. By the end of the month, you will have talked to 600 people. You’re gonna get results. Feedback at least. No matter if 1 person says yes and 19 people say no. And then do it again the next day and maybe you get 2 people to say yes. And if you run out of people, you haven’t. Stand outside a park and walk up to people. If you’ve met them before, great, you have some friends. 

These are things that are OUTSIDE of the social media algorithm! People think that posting on social media is going to bring them everything. It may, it certainly may bring a lot. But I don’t want to leave it up to just the algorithm to get what I need to do done.

I want the power in my own hands.

So ask yourself, are you willing to do what it takes? Are you willing to focus, get rid of the fears, and go after it? When opportunity shows up at your door, it’s usually disguised as work. You’re not afraid to put yourself out there. You’re afraid to work.

But I do want to say this as well, it’s ok to not be willing.

You have permission to not be willing. But don’t complain when things aren’t going your way. Don’t complain when you don’t have a mobile, healthy body. Or when you have to go to your day job because your night job isn’t paying for anything. Listen to this, people who are willing and doing everything they can DO NOT HAVE TIME TO COMPLAIN!!! They are so busy doing it because they are willing to put in the time that they have no time to complain. They KNOW in their heart that it will pay off. Not even a chance that it won’t, because it will. 

Kobe Bryant said

“I’m extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. It’s not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.”

A friend the other day was talking about her podcast and how she had done 523 episodes. 523. (This is her awesome podcast, by the way. Follow her!) When she talked about it she mentioned the word “faithful”. That has been stuck in my head ever since. If you are willing and doing everything that you are capable of – and I mean everything (not complaining) – then the faith aspect, the power of the Universe, of Gods, they have your back.

The idea that we WORK for money needs to be thrown in the trash. We ATTRACT money. Money is the EFFECT. It’s something we try to control, but have no direct control over. If we are putting that work and energy into the Universe, all of that plus more is coming back to us. 

So, it’s ok to not be willing. But stop complaining about where you’re at. Go ahead, take the easy route.

Chris Rock said

“They say life is short, but actually it’s pretty long. The decisions you make now, you’re gonna have to live with for 50 or 60 years.”

So if you don’t want to be willing to do everything, that’s ok, but just know that you’re going to have to live with that. Every day. You’re going to live that level of life. And that’s ok. Right?

Stop dreaming about the future you want, but aren’t willing to put in the work for. You’re just letting yourself down. Either live your days, your hours, your minutes to the fullest right now.

Or live your future days with regret.

Ask yourself, which one hurts more? 

This is the conversation I had with myself. It was real, it was raw. It hurt. It really did. It was a hard pill to swallow. To think that I hadn’t been living up to my potential. Some people will say “Well you’re being hard on yourself”. I wasn’t being hard on myself, I know myself! I was being honest with myself. It made me reevaluate all that I wanted. And maybe it will for you too. 

Because the last thing I want is for any of us to be wasting time putting in a lot of work, but not the work that needs to be willed to the level of  circumstance before you. To the level of what you want. Not willing to scrape and crawl and find that third door. I don’t want you to waste that time or let yourself down anymore. 

Now is the time where you decide if you want that life you’ve always dreamed of or if you want a life where it can be easier. If you want an easier life, that’s completely fine!! But better to decide that now.

This conversation with myself really opened my mind and I hope it opened up something for you too. 

It’s definitely time to Level Up!.

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Thanks for reading! 

This blog post is also a podcast episode on Level Up! With Shay. You can listen here.

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