“Just realize that every molecule in your body is going to tell you to stop but you have to keep on going,” he said. I looked over to the steep drop off from the top of the mountain and looked back at him as if he was crazy.

“I know, it sounds odd, but if you don’t keep on running then we’ll both end up rolling down the side of the mountain.”

Was I sure I really wanted to do this? It sounded awesome back in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba but now that I’m here on top of the mountain, it doesn’t sound quite so awesome.

He pointed and said, “Watch.” So, I watched as a woman half my size gathered herself and then took off running toward the edge of the cliff. She was slowed by the massive parachute and the weight of the Instructor tied to her back but she ran for all she was worth.

For a second it looked like she was running in place when the parachute caught the wind but then she was moving again and she pumped her legs for all she was worth, then suddenly, her feet were pumping in mid-air. She slid back into her seat as the parachute took flight.

All of that struggle against the wind, carrying the weight of someone else and the parachute pulling you back was gone. Nevermind the fact that you’re running off of a cliff into a potentially catastrophic event. Facing all of that results in the most exhilarating and relaxing ride of your life.

It reminds me of my life. You see, I’m a serial, entreprenuery kinda guy. I like the idea of not working for the man and making it out on your own. I get some crazy notion for a new business and then get excited about it and research it and dig into every aspect of it. It’s like I’m running as fast as I can right up until I see the edge of that cliff. That’s when I hit the brakes and sometimes end up tumbling down the mountain.

What sucks about it is that I’ve done the research. I know that it can work. I believe it will be successful this time and yet I hesitate. I don’t jump. I can’t risk it. I’m scared. I’ve seen it in myself, my friends and my family. Why do we do this?

In my favorite book, The Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo states that most people only take things they are passionate about 90% of the way and then quit. Most quit before they even start because everyone tells them that they can’t do it and they believe it. We quit because we are afraid of failing and not having something to fall back on. We quit because we can’t deal with the guilt of having everything we want. This happens everyday in business, in adventures and in relationships. We just can’t seem to push through. We’ve done 90% of the work and then simply quit. Why are we just not capable of seeing things all the way through?

Years ago I came across the quote, “Jump, and the net will appear,” and it had a profound impact on me. At first, I was confused by it. What net and why am I jumping? Where am I jumping from? But as time went by and I had a few opportunities to jump into some things that could be amazing and I didn’t, I started to understand it.

You see, while we are on the ground, nothing is really at risk. It’s only when we take flight that there is danger. If you trip and fall on the mountain the damage is limited. If you fall out of the sky, then you’re, most probably, dead. Maybe we feel that if we try to take flight by starting a business or changing our career and fail that our dream is dead. When there’s no safety line, it’s scary. Buy to truly soar we must jump. We must leave the ground that has been our home for so long.

Jump and the net will appear.

Maybe the net is down there and I just can’t see it. Maybe I just have to have some faith. Faith in the idea. Faith in myself. Is it me that I don’t believe in? Aww, man. I wanna believe in me. Is it the unknown that I’m afraid of cause I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I jump off that mountain. Sure I have a parachute and sure I have an instructor with me but things can still go wrong.

The fact of the matter is that in order to soar through the clouds you have to risk potentially crashing into the ground. This is literal but it’s also a metaphor. In your professional life and your personal life, there are going to be times you’re going to crash and burn and that’s okay because that’s where the knowledge is. That’s where those little golden nuggets of information that will make you successful are.

Think about it, all of the best lessons in your life came out of your biggest failures. That spelling word you missed in third grade. You still remember how to spell it now but you don’t remember any of the other words from that test. That relationship that crashed and burned. It hurt, a lot and for a long time but from the ashes of that came an even better relationship. Because now you have experience and that is what makes the difference between you succeeding or failing.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

It’s the failing that makes us stronger. Most of us spend our time avoiding failure at every turn when I think that failure is what we should be gunning for. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho, is as true a statement that I’ve ever heard. The secret to succeeding is to fail and fail and fail over and over again until you fail at failing – then you’ve succeeded.

The next time you’re attempting to do something wonderful that requires you to jump, you’ll feel the tug of the parachute trying to pull you back – that’s the stress of trying to so something new. You’ll notice the weight of all the naysayers who don’t think you can do it – that’s their fear trying to stop you. You’ll feel every molecule in your body telling you to stop – that’s your fear trying to stop you. But once, you’re airborne all of that goes away. And if you take flight it is the most glorious feeling that you can have. If you crash, there will be a lesson there that you needed to learn. Either way, you’re moving forward.

So, jump, and know that it doesn’t matter if a net appears or not. All that matters is that you jump.