Get Your Friends to Play Truth or Dare

In fact happiness was far, far away. Something closer to terror was flowing through my veins, though I couldn't show it on the outside. I think I was about 14 at the time."I dare you to jump." someone said. I took another look at the river lazily flowing by. I had seen people jump from there before, it actually looked like fun, but when it came to be me up there.I was certain that pain and injury were waiting there in the 12ft drop to the water below. Muffled gasps filtered through the group watching, the air now filled with silent expectation. I don't remember who even said it, but it didn't matter. There's no turning back with good dares. Being labeled a chicken by my friends, especially as a 14yr old boy, is just something that I couldn't bear. So I had to close my eyes, take a deep breath and jump to certain doom. You know what? It was awesome! And for a little while I was a hero to my friends. None of them had done it yet, I was the first! Naturally, when they saw I survived, they all jumped too. In reality, it was such a minor thing, but to us, at that moment, it was huge!

Honestly, I don't know. You know you better than I ever could, so I'll just tell you how it relates to my experience. First, I was stuck up there on that bridge. My fear had me locked in place. Fear of what bad stuff might happen if I did jump, and fear of the shame and teasing if I didn't. Fear of the ridicule that I thought my family and friends would rain down on me for trying such a crazy thing. I was afraid that this was just a pipe dream. Afraid all those people who made money online were just scammers. Afraid that I would buy into their program and they would get more rich, while I got some vague ebook or video training series that really told me nothing. And I'm not going to lie, I found that was true, time and time again. Which only reinforced the fear. I was stuck. Just like on that bridge. I had seen and KNEW online businesses could work, but I was afraid.

Then came the Dare

Not from someone else, but that small voice in my head. No, I'm not cuckoo, you have it too. That voice that encourages us to do something bigger. To try our luck, to ask that girl for her phone number, to start exercising. The voice that always wants us to try and do better, different, exciting things. "I dare you."

Unfortunately, a lot of times that just isn't enough. We start something and soon lose interest. Or the fear creeps back in. Or life gets in the way, or whatever excuse 'du jour' we cook up. And then sometimes someone throws at you.

The Triple-Dog Dare

A few weeks ago, I got sucked into watching a video presentation. I actually didn't even want to watch it. I was so numb to advertising videos and "buy my crap" presentations that I had sworn it off. But that voice said, "Just watch it, it'll probably be more interesting than what's on tv right now." So I went ahead and watched it all the way through. And you know what? It was like a huge 30min Triple-Dog Dare!! For me, the gauntlet had been thrown down. There's no turning back.

Maybe it's different for you. Maybe the 20th or 50th time your boss "needs" you to cover someone else's shift even though you have plans, will be the Triple-Dog Dare for you to start your own business. Maybe seeing a friend lose 30lbs on P90X is your Triple-Dog Dare to lose weight. But whatever it is you can always count on...

Being a Hero

It may have been short-lived but my jumping off that bridge, caused a chain-reaction in that little group of friends. One by one they all jumped off. Then we did it again. And again. They saw my success and wanted it too.Your success, no matter how small you may think it is, can and does have a powerful impact on those around you. But just the act of doing it and working on it has caused a profound change in my life. I do my online business part-time right now, and am trying to get to the point of quitting the "job." My co-workers, who I thought would scoff at me trying to do my own thing, want to know all about it. They see the change in me, even though I think it's minor because to me, I haven't done anything but decide that I'm going to do it and nothing's gonna stop me. They see that. The determination and that is something that a lot of people just don't have, and I didn't have before. It's actually really crazy, but as soon as I made that mindset change, I got a "field-promotion," so to speak, at my current job. I am now running projects that I have only worked on before. So celebrate your successes. The tiny little insignificant ones too.