WOW! I love guts. Big, happy, all-in, GUTS! Chutzpah. Cojones. Stones.
Check out this cool STORY about the owner of Facebook, a 23 year old who dropped out of Harvard to give his all to his dream, THEN took a huge entrepreneurial risk in turning down the mother of all birds in hand to see that dream through long-term.
Of course, he may be too young at 23 to understand the difference between 240 million and a billion dollars. I don't think I would have had any idea at 'half my age'.
He also may be less aware of the value of time than those who have watched it fly by in later years and seen that it's not infinite in supply.
He may not care about either.
Or is that even the issue? Isn't it more like "in for a penny, in for a pound?" Is there really a price tag at all on excellence and living your bliss?
So many questions came to my jumbled, holiday-partied mind while reading that story:
Do you believe in what you're doing enough that you would refuse a billion dollar offer? How about a million? Can you see 'down the fairway' with key choices you make? Are you looking that far ahead?
Since the future does not exist in the present, is it healthy to focus on the long term to the exclusion of all else? Are we alive if we're not risking every day?
IS BEING OFFERED, THEN TURNING DOWN A BILLION BUCKS THE BIGGEST RUSH? (I will let you know when I find this out!) :)
Do you believe in what you're doing enough that you would keep going, even if you were in the negative cash flow stage? Many are at this point in many businesses, and certainly in our industry.
Who has the guts and love for their profession to ride out the bumps and keep going? See the stumbling blocks as stepping stones? See why the Chinese character for 'crisis' is a combination of 'opportunity' and 'riding the wind'. Crisis is opportunity blowing your way!
This statement from the article was key for me:
"When you live in alignment, and take responsibility for the choices you make, when you live each day with focus, and make choices that are aligned with your dreams, hopes and visions, then you will own your life."
Anything else is a distraction.