So it's the night of the big game, and you're sitting on the sidelines with your teammates and you're anxious as anything. You feel like you're gonna throw up. Your nerves are crazy, but you know, as soon as you have that first hit, everything's going to be okay, at least that was the experience that I always had. It was getting that first hit out of the way. Once that happened, I could get into the game. The premise of this blog is around how lions hunt. The story goes that lions hunt by taking all of the older, established lions and putting them on one edge of the clearing, then they put all of the younger, aggressive lions on the sidelines. So when the prey comes into the clearing of the open prairie, they have the older, established, and slower lions to roar and bellow into the clearing. What happens time and time again is the gazelle runs towards the younger, more nimble, more aggressive lions, and is eaten and taken out of the situation. But if they were to take a moment and run to the roar, run to where the fear is based. Then, they have a possibility of breaking through, of finding the freedom, of reaching their dreams. It's interesting that we interact the same way. For the most part, we run away from the roar instead of running to it.
You know, there was a book in which Thomas Edison was interviewed on several occasions by Napoleon Hill, and on one of those occasions, Thomas Edison spoke to Hill about a partner that came to see him that had asked to work with him time and time again. And what Edison said to him was that he had seen that when a man puts everything at stake on one spin of the wheel, time and time again, he's successful. Well, for me, this one spin on the wheel is right now. The desire is in this moment, and it makes me look at some of the premises of the reasons I wanted to start this blog.
The reason I wanted to have this conversation about running to the roar goes back a couple years ago when I was in the car with one of my good friends, and he was talking about the level of anxiety that he has and where he had found that it was sourced from. He was always trying to create the magic, the enjoyment, the mystery of what it was like when we were in middle school and high school. He was chasing that dream, that level of excitement and he can never seem to find it. That kind of got me, and it had me sitting in the question, well, what does that mean about us? Why do we stop running to the roar? When do we decide to give up on our hopes and our dreams? When do we start to put it away? And maybe it's not just one big event, maybe it's little by little, inch by inch, that we start to put things away.
Now look, I wanna be clear on the front end. I'm not claiming to be an expert. The Pope didn't whisper into my ear and say, “Mike, this is the message to change people's future and have them retain all of their dreams”. But what I am saying is that I do have a strong track record for producing results, a strong track record for running to the roar and doing crazy things. I'm not asking that you do all of those crazy things, but I am asking that you join me on this journey as we explore what it looks like to face our fears and run towards them. You know, I've done things like running a marathon after 40, starting a graduate degree at 41, and just finishing up last year at 43.
I've had some amazing entrepreneurial ventures, and some that I had bumps and bruises from. Each time I've learned that if I run towards the fear and I face it, things are going to be great in the end. It may be painful throughout the journey, but if I run towards my goal I can get through. If I'm willing to stake it all on one spin of the wheel, I can get through and so can you.
Now, look, I'm not saying that you should do what my wife and I did. Before Covid hit, we were planning on moving to Amsterdam, launching a business, and a training company. We had put our house up on the market, sold our cars and we had plane tickets bought, but covid hit. The EU kept shifting when the visas were going to be available. So what did we have to do? We had to pivot, so we bought an RV, and we've been traveling around the lower 48 so far. We've got 31 states left, 17 to follow, that we'll be starting here in the next few weeks. Then, hopefully after Europe opens up, we're able to continue on that dream. We are able to run towards that roar.
But for me, this is the big one. This is the spin of the wheel.. I'm all in, right? I've sold everything. I'm putting my chips on the table, and what I realized is that in every endeavor, whether it was entrepreneurship or in sales or sales management, my favorite thing to do was to support and inspire people to reach their goals. If I was with a client, I was interested and excited about whatever project it was, but I was more excited about what projects they had going on in their life, and was there anything that I could do to support them in obtaining that dream, in reaching that goal.
So here's the deal. I'm jumping into a project that I know somewhat about right? I've got it covered; from the courses, to the distinctions and how to create results, but this is a whole new language for me. We're about to launch a website, an e-course, and a podcast. My wife has been writing some brilliant blogs. We've been testing things on social media. We've had three ads and tried things out, but in the coming weeks, we're going all in, right? We're going to be running a full marketing campaign. I'm trying to figure out SEO. I'm trying to figure out analytics, and you get to live it with me. Most of the time when you read through a blog or course or something like that, they're coming out stating they are the expert and they're going to solve all your problems. I'm not promising to solve all of your problems.
I am promising that A: I'll bring you on this journey with me, and there's going to be some ups and downs, and B: I'll play full out each time we engage to see if I can inspire you and push you to reach your dreams. You know, there's probably goals that you have that are sitting on the sidelines and maybe you're like now's not the time, or, I can't take the risk, or ,I can't do that. I have to be a dad. I have to be a mom, or I have to be responsible. I'm not saying you avoid responsibility. I'm not saying you do any of that. I am saying there is something that’s in that clearing that you've been wanting to run towards and you haven't.
So here's an offer. Let's go on this journey together. You live this with me. You live this trial by fire with me, and if I don't make it well, then you get to give up on your dreams too. But, if we come out on the other side, if my wife and I and our project starts to build a following and give people tools to transform their lives and we're making it. Then, you have to take whatever it is on that shelf that you've had. I don't care if it's been 10 years or 20 years, whatever's on that shelf, you have to promise me that you're going to put it on the field and you're going to play full out. You're going to run towards that roar.
This is what this run to the Roar blog is all about. I'm excited for this opportunity that we've worked so hard for. Right now, I'm doing this blog in an RV down by a lake. The goal is that by the end of this blog series, I'm not in a van down by the river. So until next time, run to the roar and I'll see you next time.
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