How to Take a Leap of Faith: 4 Hard Questions to Give You the Courage to Go for It

I was content, but not really.

I was content with a regular paycheck.

I was content with a work from home situation where I didn’t have a boss breathing down my neck every day telling me exactly what to do and exactly when to do it.

I was content to not have to wake up at 6am every day and sit in traffic to get to a cubicle that I’d be held hostage in all day.

But I wasn’t content with the work.

I wasn’t content with being told how many days a year I was allowed to be sick or go on vacation or visit my family.

And while I was content with the income, I wasn’t content that there was a cap on it, and I wasn’t content that someone else controlled it.

Somebody else controlled the lever, and if I was a good little girl, they would loosen up on the grip a tiny bit and let a few more drops out…a few more drops of money in the form of a miniscule, negligible raise, or a few more drops of time in the form of a few more hours of vacation time.

This I was not content with.

I was not content with the fact that I had…

• Ideas in me that were unrealized.

• Dreams that were abandoned.

• Passions that were unexplored.

• Talents that were unshared.

• Places that were unvisited.

And eventually all of these things built up to a boiling point.

All of these unrealized things stacked up so high to the point of overflowing.

I was full far beyond my capacity of things that wanted to come to fruition through me, but couldn’t.

And it became painful.

Physically, mentally, and emotionally painful.

And then it became annoying.

I used to love it when inspiration struck.

I used to love it when good ideas would come to me randomly in the shower, or on a walk, or when I would feel like I was in flow state.

But after so many years with so many ideas not acted upon, so many dreams unrealized, and so many projects not completed, I reached my idea capacity.

I became an idea graveyard.

I grew to hate it when another idea popped into my head because I knew I wasn’t going to do anything with it.

I had gotten so used to living in a state of prioritizing my full time job over my fulfillment and the maximization of my potential, and I didn’t have the tenacity to see anything all the way through.

So where I once loved it when I was struck with an idea, I now despised it.

The poor thing was destined to die inside of me.

And I started to feel guilty about that.

And then I thought, I don’t want to be an idea graveyard, a creativity morgue.

I don’t want to be the place where ideas go when they take a wrong turn that unbeknownst to them signals the end of their chance at life.

The only way up is out–you have to get out of your comfort zone.

Stepping out into the unknown is the hardest thing to do.

But it’s also the most necessary if you want to experience, have, or become the best that you possibly can. 

Nothing cool happens in your comfort zone.

Nothing life changing happens in your comfort zone.

Dreams don’t come true in your comfort zone.

Ideas don’t turn into reality in your comfort zone. 

But most people allow themselves to be stopped from moving towards a life they want for fear that it won’t work out…whilst continuing to complain about the lackluster life they have now.

Complaining yields no results.

Lamenting about how things are doesn’t change them.

The only thing that causes change is you.

You have to change yourself, your perspective, your behavior, your beliefs, your mindset…in order to change your life.

That’s going to take some soul searching, and some work.

The very first step of that work for me was asking myself (and answering) the following questions. 

Only then did I have the courage to take that leap into the unknown.

01

But what if it does work?

Whenever we consider trying something new, we always first subconsciously ask ourselves “but what if it doesn’t work?”

This question is the source of all fear and resistance.

We always instinctively back away from that new endeavor out of the assumption that it won’t work out, or that things may turn out worse as a result of our pursuit of that thing.

We avoid going after what we want because we only consider the pitfalls of it not working.

What about the pitfalls of not trying?

What about the pitfalls of you staying the same?

What about the deterioration of your life, your potential, your talent, your dreams, your bank account, your enthusiasm, your hope?

A negative outcome is just one of a myriad of potential outcomes, many of which are positive, but we disproportionately weigh the likelihood of a negative outcome, when really a positive outcome could be just as likely—perhaps even more likely.

We never embrace the unknown out of the assumption that what we’re enduring now is what’s worse.

But what if we did?

How much more readily would we pursue what we really want if we went in with the mindset that our present situation was worse than our potential outcome, instead of the mindset that our potential outcome was worse than our present situation?

So the next time you find yourself shying away from something you want to pursue because you’re only looking at how it might turn out badly if you go for it, consider the alternative.

What if it does work, and the worse thing would have been for you to stay where you are now—to stay small, to stay afraid?

The same way you choose to see the worst outcome, you can choose to see the best.

The same way you choose to expect failure, you can choose to expect success.

The same way you choose to side with hopelessness, you can choose to side with optimism.

02

If not now, when?

No, but like, literally when?

I’ve always asked this as a rhetorical question.

But five years ago, when I was faced with the choice between staying in my safe, comfortable bubble, or trying to do something totally different to create a radically different (and better) future for myself, for the first time in my life, I paused to actually answer that question.

And when I got my answer, I lost all the color in my face.

This is not an easy feat for a dark-skinned black person.

But my body was drained of life and frozen in equal parts shock and horror because I knew that the answer to that question was never.

If I don’t really give this a shot now, when will I?

Never.

I always had this dangling carrot.

For me, it was always two years.

I had a two-year plan.

A two-year escape plan.

A two-year turn your life around plan.

A two-year achieve all your dreams plan.

Two years always felt like a short enough time to continue enduring the mediocrity of my current existence without completely losing my mind, but a long enough time to reasonably be able to accomplish a significant goal without having ridiculously unrealistic expectations.

Conveniently, two years also felt like a long enough time to where I didn’t have to hit the ground running right now on whatever the goal was.

I mean, I had two whole years.

What do I need to take the first step today for?

Today, Netflix.

Tomorrow, we turn our life around.

I’ll still have 729 days to get my sh*t together tomorrow.

That’s plenty of time.

Today, ice cream.

Tomorrow, we count macros.

729 days is plenty to get a six pack.

I mean if I can’t do something in 729 days, it’s impossible anyway, right??

But the problem with my two-year plans is that two years never came.

I never caught up to that damn dangling carrot.

At the beginning of each year (and admittedly many times throughout each year), I was always starting over with another two-year plan.

“Just two more years” I’d tell myself.

Every. Single. Month.

Finally, a decade later than when I first started to toy with the idea of creating a new life (about five two-year plans later), I finally escaped and made it happen.

You don’t need to wait five two-year plans to make a change.

You don’t need to wait at all.

Just go for it now.

You’re not going to wake up tomorrow, magically a different person, with new resolve, superhuman mental and physical strength, iron-clad discipline, and a new set of circumstances that will make it easier for you to take action.

You’re going to have to fight the same resistance, the same years of bad habits, the same negative thought patterns you’ve been reinforcing all your life, the same weaknesses, and the same less than ideal present circumstances.

If you don’t go for it now, you never will.

03

If you keep doing the same thing you’re doing now, where will you end up in the future?

The easiest way to predict the future is to extrapolate the present.

Ask yourself what will your life look like in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, if you continue on the same path you’re on now?

What will your life look like…

• If you keep doing what you’re doing?

• If you keep avoiding what you’ve been avoiding?

• If you keep reacting the same way you’ve been reacting?

• If you continue with the same people you have around you?

• If you keep repeating the same habits you’ve been repeating?

• If you keep reinforcing the same beliefs?

• If you keep living in the same place?

• If you stay in the same relationship?

• If you keep the same job?

The answers to these questions may not be bad.

And they don’t have to be.

That’s not the point.

The point is for them to serve as a compass to show you where you are headed, when you may not otherwise realize it.

If you like the answers to these questions, and you like where you’re headed, perfect.

If you don’t like the answers to these questions, and you don’t like where you’re headed, well, my friend, you’re overdue for a leap of faith.

It’s easy to get into the rut of routine, unconsciously repeat each day over and over, and fool ourselves into thinking that a better future lies ahead of us. 

But it doesn’t if we keep doing the same things that are not getting us where we want to go.

A change of outputs requires a change of inputs.

A change in results requires a change in action.

You don’t have forever.

Each day that passes is one less day that you get on this planet.

If you need and want to make a change, the time is right now.

04

What kind of person do you want to be?

I wanted a new life.

But it wasn’t going to just come to me.

I was going to have to make it.

To design it.

To create it.

And that did not come without risk–risk to my finances, risk to my reputation, and perhaps most of all, risk to my ego.

But as much as the idea of public failure and the inevitable subsequent humiliation hurt, I got to a point where I realized that my ego felt more pain from being known as that person who talks the talk but never walks the walk, than being known as that person who tried but failed.

Don’t be that person at the dinner party.

The one who’s always talking about their new venture, passing around their vistaprint business cards with yet another new logo and yet another new business name from companynamegenerator.com.

The one you listen to to be polite but really can’t wait until they stop talking because it’s the same story every time.

The one where as soon as they walk away from the chat huddle, everyone else raises their eyebrows at each other, knowing you’re all thinking the same thing, before slowly changing the subject of conversation.

Do you want to be that person who every time they open their mouth, people shake their heads and roll their eyes because they know you’re all talk and no execution? 

Do you want to be that person who always has grand plans and nothing to show for it?

Do you want to be known as a person who has great ideas?

Or do you want to be known as a person who has a great book? Or song? Or speech? Or business? Or website? Or invention?

Do you want to be known as that person who is always about to, going to, getting ready to, planning to, thinking about, brainstorming, figuring out…?

Or do you want to be the person who actually does things? Who gets sh*t done?

Sh*t is better done than thought of.

Thinking about art doesn’t make you an artist.

Fantasizing about investing doesn’t make you an investor.

Daydreaming about sports doesn’t make you an athlete.

So don’t just sit there thinking about it. Do it.

How’s that for questions that make you think? These four hard questions might lead to some hard answers. But better hard questions and answers than a hard life. It’s not easy to have the courage to take a leap of faith, but it’s even more difficult to endure a life you know is beneath your potential. Whatever you want to do, go for it, make it happen. And remember, a little bit of courage goes a long way.