5 Reasons Why You Should Act on Dreams NOW (Don't Wait)

I recently served on a financial literacy panel at the 谷歌 Community space in San Francisco for a collaborative event between Junior Achievement of Northern California and Third Parent Family (shoutout to Daveea Whitmire and Duane Wilson for putting it together). Though I had a grand time serving with my dear friends Deka Dike , Danielle Adams , and Ryan Drake-Lee ...I learned something quite important from my colleagues that day: the power of just getting started.

As many of you know, I come from humble beginnings and the funny thing about growing up in disenfranchised areas is--you learn thousands of life lessons by simply watching the people around you figure out how to (as Ray Charles would say) 'make it do what it do' (translation: make the best with what you have). In the hood, people's cars used to break down all the time and as a community, we would always help each other by gathering behind the vehicle and pushing it to the desired destination. To me, our dreams, goals, and ambitions can operate the same way because much like pushing a car--the hardest part is getting started.

I know it's hard out here and life is tougher now than perhaps it ever has been for previous generations (for many reasons), but that is no reason to stand still and let life pass us by. Here are 5 reasons why I believe all of us should start right damn now and stop waiting for 'the perfect timing.'

1. News flash: starting is the hardest part - It is no secret that the hardest part about the journey is getting started. For many of us, we can take a look within our social circles, family, friends, or even the mirror and see the aftermath of unrealized dreams. The most tragic part? Most of those unrealized dreams are simply because we are afraid to get started. Whether its starting a company, going to the gym, healing a relationship that went sour, taking control of finances, living our truth, or even the blinking cursor of a blank word document--the hardest part is the starting point and we all experience it (in or own way). The sooner we realize that, the more effective we can be in planning the next sequence of moves. Though the start will always be most challenging, the manifestation of dreams is a blissful feeling worth pushing through any trepidation.
2. We all fear commitment - I must preface by noting that this point has nothing to do with relationships (though many of us can make that connection quite quickly). Regarding commitment, I've seen that many of us don't start because we fear that the start will mean that we not only 'commit' to doing something...but will suffer from embarrassment and shame if we don't succeed. Commiting to an idea, dream, goal, or ambition also means that the tradeoff becomes a reality, meaning we must then commit to the lifestyle change that comes with our big decision--and that can be daunting. We would be unwise to let the fear of our greatest life becoming reality be the reason that it doesn't. We all deserve happiness, and sometimes that comes when we choose to do the scariest thing we can think of: starting the project.
3. It won't make itself - This one right here cannot be overlooked or underexpressed. Much like my thoughts when facing the fear of starting Siempre Sports , one day I woke up and realized that the only way it will work is if I make it work. Put differently, many of us know that we are 'the one' that has to do certain things but remember that it is more of a blessing than a curse (if we frame it accordingly). That said, it is important to remember that our dreams and goals are 'ours' and that the only way that it will happen is if we act on it with relentless intention. We only have one life to live and in that vein, we must remember that some of our wildest dreams only exist in our brains--until we make them happen and share them with the world.
4. What is for you is for you anyway - The late prophet Nipsey Hussle once said, "don't blend in. stay in your lane. there is no traffic in your lane. be honest, and stay in your lane." By that, I surmise that Nip wanted us to remember that not only is authenticity our best option, but it will also yield the most positive results because what is for us (in our lane) is for us only. If we sit and think about it, all of us can think of a short list of two or three things that we bring to the table in every circle; we know what we are really good at and we know what roles we play best). That said, we must be intentional in understanding that the thing we fear starting the most is probably the thing that we can most amicably contribute to society. Even if high profit or notoriety is not the goal, recognizing the power of being one of one has massive implications for the start of our project/product/goal/dream--and what it could mean for our world as we know it.
5. Opportunities arise when the universe knows what you want - It wasn't until I started to move like a businessman that business opportunities started to flood my inbox. I am thankful for the consortium of partnerships, sponsorships, donations, resource allocations, and even meetings that I have been a part of since my man Kyle Ellington, PHR (along with the great Magdalena L. Barrera ) motivated me to start Siempre Sports ...and I thoroughly believe that all of us have the same opportunity to catch that lightning in a bottle. Many times, people do not give us what we want (or investors don't take meetings with us) because they simply do not know what we want or why we are doing what we are doing. The moment we start the project and start living out loud...everything changes because everyone then knows what we want and what we are about. Opportunities to then amplify can come tenfold, especially when we master the art of networking and begin to build the life that we aspire to have through partnerships, relationships, and collective efforts. As my mans Adrian O'Connor would say, BR = BR (more on that later)!

I admit that what I am asking of you all is quite difficult because I understand that starting is legitimately the hardest part to any journey. To that end, I would also argue that starting is nowhere near the level of discomfort that unrealized dreams and inadvertent regret insights within the body that we only get to live in one singular time. Starting is challenging for more reasons than I can express in this newsletter, but all of us can think of a time where we thought about the difficulty of something and allowed it to psych us out to the point that we never actually did it. Whatsmore, we can also think of times where we thought the start of things would be harder than it actually was, then we look back with a smile and say "oh, that actually wasn't that hard at all." Start now. Get moving. Try a lot, fail a lot, learn a lot. It won't always be pretty, and there will be many sleepless nights of holding your head in the palms of your hands while thinking "what the hell did I get myself into?" My conclusionary news flash? We all do it, thousands of times. It is normal to reach that stage, because that means that we are challenging ourselves to do something different--which is a tough but necessary hurdle.

Do me a favor...and give it a shot. You owe it to yourself to start the thing you have been putting off and I promise, the reward far outweighs the trepidation of fear.

Let me know what you start, along with any way that I can support you! Let's get this money, baby!

Peace, love, and SVO!

-Dr. Savant ??

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