The Summit

You have within you, more potential than you would ever know. More skills that have never been tapped. More power than you would ever imagine.

But realize, that realizing all of that potential doesn’t come easy.

It’s not a switch to flick on. You can’t blink your eyes and reach all that potential. You don’t snap your fingers and magically appear at your personal summit. It doesn’t work that way. You have to train. And climb. And fall and get up. And climb. And climb and still climb.

For a myriad of reasons though, people hold themselves back from getting even to the foot of that mountain. They don’t even give themselves a chance to climb. Let alone, reach a summit.

Some people are plagued by self-doubt. That’s what holds them back. That’s the reason they never make it. You don’t believe in yourself…not fully. Not enough to take the leap every day. And the only way you’re getting to your summit, to your potential, is by leaping. By making giant leaps. A lot of times.  

Maybe you were dealt a childhood filled with criticism. Wrought with disappointment. Littered with paralyzing negativity. So you’re a pessimist. So you can’t believe.

You can overcome all of that.

That is the past. Not the present or the future. Know that. Start today by doing things differently. Do something you’re proud of every day. Really and truly proud of…every single day. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just something that makes you feel good inside. And then hang your hat on that. That will birth a sense of pride in you…about you. It will take a bit. But that sense of self-worth makes self-doubt as insignificant as it should be.

Other people get held back because of the idiot-syndrome. This was my biggest problem. I didn’t want to look like an idiot in other people’s eyes. It made me timid. And weak. Then I started Urban Samurai and nothing I do say now would make me feel like more of an idiot, then when I was telling people that I was going to become a samurai warrior in New York City…and I had 6 likes on my Facebook page. I realized then, that the idiot syndrome had nothing to do with other people, it was all in my own head. You will realize like I did, the truth in Eleanor Roosevelt’s words, ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’

Find whatever your Urban Samurai is, and just go after it. Just do it. Put yourself out there. Don’t care what people think. Haters are the idiots. Not the ones doing something.

For most people though, the real obstacle in reaching potential is a lack of self-exploration. People don’t do a deep dive into themselves, to really see what they could be. How much they can be. People don’t understand themselves enough to know what they even want. And while they judge every last turn of someone else’s life, they barely give their own a real once over.

It’s easy to not discover yourself. A lot of people go undiscovered for their whole lives. You can do it too. It doesn’t take much effort. Just hide in familiar places. Hide in comfortable settings. In your apartment. In the same bars you always go to. At the same restaurants. In your safe job. In your middling relationship. Hide behind your hate on other people who are out there doing something. Hide behind who you were. Never reinventing yourself in the mold of the person you want to be. Never reinventing yourself into the person you should be.

Or…you can step outside yourself and find yourself.

You can go. Out there. Into the black of the night. And start doing things. It’s only hard to see in the dark for a little bit, until your eyes adjust. Start finding out who you are. What you want. Start trying things you’ve never tried. Going places you’ve never gone. Meeting people you’ve never met. You’ll be so busy finding out what you really love to do, you won’t have time to hate on others. You will only feel sorry for the people not growing.

There is a world of experiences…waiting to be had.

And once you get out there, once you really start to experience this world, you’re going to find what you love, what you are passionate about, and what you are great at. And magically, they are all going to be the same thing.

You are going to realize in that moment, you are at the foot of a mountain. The foot of your mountain. And you won’t be asking, ‘Can I climb this?’ or ‘What are other people going to think if I climb this?’ or even, ‘Should I climb this?’

You’ll be halfway up your hill already.