I’ve never been one to simply test the waters.
I jump in, head first into any endeavor that I have a deep interest in.
In a lot of ways, I think this has been the secret to me leveling up my skills and achieving goals faster than most.
I don’t waste a lot of time “feeling things out” or “exploring my options.” When I find something I like, I review the best possible options and pick one. I know that I can always adjust course later.
See, it’s hard to find the right course of action if you’re not yet in the game.
Of course everyone wants to find the “perfect game” before they’re actually in it. They’d rather stay on the sidelines where they’re safe from making mistakes.
I’d rather deal with the pain of making mistakes and failing. It’s much easier to stomach than to suffer the cold and lonely hell of those that know neither victory nor defeat.
The biggest pain of total immersion is that you must make a choice.
You must say whole-heartedly, whole-beingly, YES to something.
And with that, comes a painful, excruciating NO to other things.
You see, it’s fashionable to naively believe that we can choose everything. That we can have it all. It’s the adolescent dream.
“You can be anything,” we’re told.
Yes, you can.
But rather than choosing and becoming that something, we believe that we can be it all.
We want to remain Peter Pan. We want to stay in Neverland.
It’s easy to romanticize childhood. It’s easy to think that we need to regain or reclaim something from childhood that we lost.
But we need to be clear whether we’re legitimately trying to reclaim something vital to us in the stage we’re at, or if we’re resisting growing up.
If we never want to choose, and totally immerse ourselves, we remain trapped in a fake sense of childhood. We’re letting a wounded six year old live our lives.
Perhaps we need to go back and heal those wounds. Perhaps someone else told us that we had to choose something that we didn’t care about. Perhaps we need to learn how to make our own choices and listen to our own hearts.
That’s very important work. It’s necessary in order to really be in the driver seat of your life.
Once we’ve done that work we’re ready to grow up. We’re ready to acknowledge that life has more stages than just childhood. We can also realize that their are beautiful parts of adulthood that we might have been blind to.
Remember when you couldn’t wait to grow up so you could really do whatever you wanted and no one could tell you what to do?
Well, now is that time. You get to design your own life. You’re 100% responsible.
What kind of life do you want now?
What are you willing and ready to totally immerse yourself in?
It’s time to grow up. What do you want to devote yourself to?
Want to totally immerse yourself in getting paid to exist?
Tomorrow at 1pm Pacific I’ll be opening 10 spots into the Paid to Exist lifetime membership program.
If you join you’ll get access to everything we ever create forever.
This is not for the dabblers. You know who you are.
I thoroughly enjoyed this post Jonathan. Mainly because you threw this is our face: “Remember when you couldn’t wait to grow up so you could really do whatever you wanted and no one could tell you what to do?”
I think its funny and very true. We all had these moments where we wish we had the power to rebel and make our own decisions. We forget that kid once we encounter the responsibility and/or consequences that come with making those decisions like you said:
“You must say whole-heartedly, whole-beingly, YES to something.
And with that, comes a painful, excruciating NO to other things.”
Thanks for the reminder
– Cheers
I am new to the site and so excited that I found it! I love this article. For me it points to the power of surrender (trust, intuition, riding the waves of emotions that will inevitably pop up when making a choice) and the power of pulling out the sward, so to speak (taking action, making clear decisions, and moving forward with intention). When we follow our inner compass, immerse ourselves into something, powerful internal and external shifts occur. What needs to then falls beautifully into place.
Yes it is time to live fully rather than doing nothing but wanting to have it all!
A wonderful post and important message contained within. I find that as a member of Generation Y, we’ve grown up with a sense of entitlement, but without the knowledge that we need to choose what immerse ourselves in with the necessary work ethic it takes to succeed.
Some great points, especially that one about being a child and wanting to grow up so you can do anything you like. However, a lot of adults feel more restrained than kids. Really need to live with that mentality that we really CAN do anything we like.
Thank you, Jonathan.
This weekend, I had to make a decision about what I want to say yes to. I was trying to start two businesses, both of which I am extremely passionate about. Between the two and a part-time freelancing gig to support the businesses, I was so stressed I made myself sick.
I had to stop and make a decision. That decision meant letting go of one of my passion businesses, at least for the foreseeable future.
But it also meant I could go all in on the bigger passion and the one thing I don’t want to miss out on doing.
Thanks for the affirmation.
A great post Jonathan, I remember the wanting to be an adult so I could do what I wanted, and having been an adult for a long time now, it is only the past few years that I am really doing what I want and following my passion. This post is a great reminder to people that they need to make a decision and then act on it, life is too short to not follow our passions.
Thank you for reminding me why I always wanted to grow up: To be able to do whatever I want.
Am so glad that recently I managed to launch myself into adulthood and am absolutely loving it.
As for total immersion, am guilty as charged. No wonder my life is littered with so many mistakes. But I wouldn’t change anything about those experiences because they prepared me for this new found adulthood.
Keep rocking it, Jonathan!
Great analysis. I agree that people struggle to commit to something in the full hearted way immersion requires. I think you can get a lot out of it, just as you’ve experienced, but its a real challenge for many people. Thanks for the post!
I agree man!
You are 100% responsible of who you are, what you think, what you feel, what are your habits, what is your job, what is your life! You’re in charge! You’re the boss!
Nice post, nice blog!
I’m so glad I’ve come across this post- jumping in headfirst and dealing with whatever happens has been my approach to life recently, and you’re so right- it’s a much better way to live!
It also seems to explain how many other people make comments about how they’d love to be able to do things but always find excuses not to…..I’m just going to send them to read this in future!