Be in action because you love being in action. Because that is the only way to stay relevant. Sitting and imagining that things are going to happen to you is the fast track to becoming insignificant and boring.
LEARNING TO WALK THE FINE LINE BETWEEN PASSION AND INSANITY
Jumping off a cliff? Skydiving? Ok, hot air ballooning, maybe scaling the Everest. Perhaps even doing illegal shit that could put you behind bars.
Is that the idea of living on the edge? Or is it something else?
Do you need to be insane to live on the edge? Can everyone do it? Is it difficult? How do you do it? What exactly is it in the first place?
Living on the edge is simply one word.
ACTION.
It is about DOING things. Things that you love.
It is chasing your dreams, following them to the darkest places and yet never losing sight of them.
It is that fire, it is that passion, which makes your heart race and drum in your chest.
It is each moment so fantastic and explosive, yet filling you with a sense of peace and contentment.
Itâs being scared, because of the unpredictability, yet excited at the endless possibilities.
It is going to bed exhausted every day, yet being happy about it.
Living on the edge is about having fun.
Every moment of our lives should be lived like that.
Itâs easy to talk about living on the edge, but what about actually doing it?
Am I being realistic?
We need money to be able to survive and continue doing the things we love. Some of us can earn money by doing things we love, but most of us arenât that fortunate. We donât choose our passions based on their financial advantages now do we?
But wait a minute. Why am I saying that we canât live on the edge by doing our jobs?
We need ACTION to live on the edge, right?
So here is where we go wrong.
We associate earning money with action.
The action consists of waking up every day, reaching the office, working harder and harder at our jobs, and coming back tired in the evening just to repeat the whole cycle again.
Because the ACTION in our lives becomes earning, we hate it.
Since we are drained, tired and uninspired, we naturally gravitate towards the complete opposite of ACTION aka INACTION, which we fondly call âchillingâ.
We start associating âliving the lifeâ with INACTION. This could be things like binge-watching Netflix because you âtotally deserve a break from workâ, going on vacations, lying on the beach, and for a lot of people, just sleeping all day.
Our idea of happiness is to earn a lot of money, âretire earlyâ and chill, sleeping on an island or something.
This is wrong. Think back to your 5-year-old self. This is not what they would want. They were full of dreams and ideas and plans and energy!
You owe it to yourself to live the life of your dreams.
Living on the edge is not âchillingâ and itâs not working hard at your job just so you can get your paycheck. Itâs not this kind of action, and it is definitely not inaction.
It is the ACTION of a totally different quality.
Action which is exciting, thrilling and life-changing. Meaningful, fulfilling and fun.
A story:
Steve Fossett was a madman. As of 1997, he was in his mid-fifties and had enjoyed a hugely successful career as a floor trader in Chicago, when he decided to see what he was capable of. âThere was a period of time where I wasnât doing anything except working for a living,â he said. âI became very frustrated with that and finally made up my mind to start getting back into things.â
Between the mid-1990s and his death in 2007, Steve broke about 130 world records, 93 of them in planes, balloons and airships, 23 of them in yachts. He climbed the worldâs highest mountains. He swam the English Channel. He learned to glide and, with co-pilot Terry Delore, broke ten of the 21 Glider Open Class Records. He learned how to fly a balloon, and was the first man to sail one around the world single-handed. (taken from Richard Bransonâs book.)
He had hunger. He had passion. He lived on the edge. He couldâve stayed that floor trader in Chicago and watched TV on the weekends, but he did not. Even in his late fifties and sixties, he broke world records.
âMy proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.ââââElon Musk.
He was rich. He didnât need to lift a finger again to work. EVER. But he did. Why?
He just wanted to keep doing what he loved!
Elon is now a pioneer of cutting edge technology, brilliant innovation, and exciting ideas. His everyday work is literally to figure out how to make commercial space travel a reality, inspiring more 9-year olds to become astronauts in the process and to make Mars livable. By working on this, he is not only doing what he loves but also aiming to solve one of the major problems the world faces today.
Learn that new skill. Start that new business. Go for that trip youâve been wanting to take for years. Move to that city. That book in your head? Put it down on paper. Start that blog and put that video out.
Life is too short. Live on the edge. DO things. Be in ACTION and never stop chasing your dreams and fulfilling your passions.
Not to endorse or anything, but Nike got it right.
Just do it.
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