The Hard Truth About Building a Life You Love: No One’s Coming to Save You
Most people don’t fail because they’re lazy.
They fail because they wait to feel ready.
Real growth starts when you lead yourself before you believe in yourself.
If you want to create a life you love, you need two things:
Some idea of what you want.
The willingness to lead yourself toward it even when you’re scared, uncertain, and unskilled.
If you don’t know what you want yet, that’s okay.
Start trying new things.
Use the feedback.
Learn what lights you up and what doesn’t.
That’s how you set your direction.
After sport ended for me, I felt completely lost.
For years, I was laser-focused on one goal: becoming a professional athlete.
I hadn’t explored much else.
Deep down, I was terrified of failing at something new of looking stupid, of losing the only identity I had.
So when sport ended, I didn’t just lose a career path.
I lost a part of myself.
Without direction, I didn’t know who I was or what to improve.
It was one of the most confronting seasons of my life.
At that point, I made a decision:
I was going to become financially independent.
Not just for the money.
At the time, I believed money would give me everything I thought would make my life better:
No more financial stress.
Credibility.
Approval from others.
A feeling of worthiness.
In my mind, becoming a millionaire would fix everything.
And I wanted to do it my way no bricks and mortar business, no rigid structure.
I wanted freedom.
Let me tell you:
Very few people go from making under $100K to a million dollars in under a year.
But back then, my enthusiasm made me believe I could.
I had a vehicle selling health products.
I knew what it required:
A certain number of conversations.
A certain number of sales.
I had no real experience.
No natural talent for sales.
And inside, I doubted myself badly.
I felt like a fraud, a rookie, a joke.
But the pain of who I was and the life I was living drove me harder than any fear could stop me.
I hated my life enough to risk failing in front of everyone.
I hated feeling invisible and stuck more than I hated rejection.
So I went to work.
It took me six weeks to get my first sale.
Hundreds of conversations.
Hundreds of no’s.
When that first yes finally came, I’ll never forget the feeling.
It wasn’t just relief it was like a switch flipped in my brain:
Maybe I actually can do this.
And better yet:
I believed in the product.
I knew I was genuinely helping someone improve their life.
That moment changed everything.
The small wins started stacking up.
They became addictive.
And with every little win, I started seeing myself differently.
Not as a failure.
Not as an imposter.
But as someone who could lead himself out of pain and into a life he chose.
Over the years, I’ve sharpened my toolkit:
Selling.
Coaching.
Speaking.
Running 58 marathons.
Building an incredible marriage over 11 years.
And the truth is:
I still have goals.
I still have skills to develop.
I still have a long way to go.
It never gets easier.
I just get better.
So let me ask you: Are you leading yourself?
Because no one else can do it for you.
Not your partner.
Not your boss.
Not your parents.
Not your friends.
You have to decide what you want even if you’re scared.
You have to be willing to suck at the beginning even if you feel like an imposter.
You have to keep showing up even when it feels hopeless.
Small wins change everything.
But first, you have to start leading yourself.
If you’re ready to lead yourself today, start here:
Write down one thing you want.
Then ask yourself: What’s the first imperfect action I can take toward it today?
The life you want is waiting for you to show up.
Not perfectly — just powerfully.
Take the Life Performance Scorecard to see where you are!
