There are some people who are content with working a corporate gig and climbing the ladder, eventually collecting retirement and going off into their golden years having experienced very little life. But, some of us want more out of life. We want a life. One that allows us to work our own hours, take fitness classes in the middle of the day, and vacation in the places of our wildest dreams. I absolutely believe that you can design a life you truly love and that you don’t need to be a slave to someone else’s dreams. Maybe you need to work a 9-5 now to be able to build this life, but with a little persistence, you’ll be able to ditch your 9-5 to embrace what life is all about… living.

“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”

Sure, this may seem like a nice fluffy unicorn of a dream, but I’m watching people around me achieve this on a daily basis and it just deepens my belief that it can be done and that all the hard work I’m putting in will get me there. I produce movie trailers full time and I blog full time. It’s no small feet. My writing is important to me and I spend hours each week crafting content to inspire others. Whether I’m helping people through written word or creating stories for the screen, that is the life I am working toward. My #LifeByDesign would be working from an amazing home office, making plans to workout in the middle of the day, catch up with friends over dinner at a normal hour, and use my success to give back and pay it forward. And honestly, there’s no reason I can’t have that. There’s no reason YOU can’t have that.

 

“Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit.” 

I read something over the weekend that only 1-2% reach the top level of success in MLM companies. You know what I thought? Well… that means there’s a whole lot of people giving up. I can’t imagine how many people have given up on their blogs because they weren’t earning what they thought they should be in a short amount of time. I can’t imagine how many people have dreams of small businesses but give up because the dream seems too big or too hard. So, these people become content with being a slave for someone else’s dream.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm“

All the people that have created an amazing life didn’t get there by kinda sorta having their heart in it. They have failed, but tried again. They have been beaten, but got back up. They have thought about quitting over and over again, but didn’t. They realized that the path to success is not always straight and allowed themselves to take a winding road. The risk was worth the reward.

 

“If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice.”

Remember a few years ago, the story about the NYC woman who quit her 6-figure job to go serve ice cream on a beach in the Caribbean. Man, did I envy her. Not because I want to serve ice cream, but because she knew that life was meant to be lived and she also knew what would make her truly happy. Now, I’m at a place that I understand this. I understand my own happiness. Do you?

 

“Don’t wait for opportunity, create it.”

There are people out there doing it. There are. We hear their stories. So why aren’t we doing it? Why aren’t you doing it? We have to let go of the fear of being judged and go after our dreams. Go after building a life you love. Like I said, some people want comfortable, safe, and simple and that’s ok… But, If you don’t want that, you have to jump in the pool! Don’t let your dreams whither and die; you will absolutely regret it later in life. What does your perfect life look like? How are you going to get there? Start thinking about this. Write it down. Come up with a game plan and smaller mile markers. A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Start the blog. Sell the makeup. Make the handbags. Do what sets your soul on fire. Jump outside your comfort zone and get. shit. done. Whether you get there in 5 months or 5 years doesn’t matter. Just keep moving forward. If you don’t build your own dream, you’ll be hired to build someone else’s.