April 13, 2021 by Brian Weiner No CommentsChanging The World One Thought At A Time.

If you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.

Can you remember the first time you tried to do something that scared you? Probably not. It might have been something benign like stepping onto an escalator, or walking off of the curb into the street, approaching a dog, or???

Some scary things are incredibly real, and through empirical knowledge, we discover that fear is valid and that can reinforce our behavior in so many ways in life going forward.

Other scary things are not real. Or they do not come to pass. They haunt us like a skeleton in a closet, waiting to pop out at a moment’s notice… dying to reinforce our innermost trepidations.

They come at us in all walks of life. In relationships with parents, family, peers, instructors, employers, clients, etc. Or they show up at the proverbial crossroads where we are making a significant decision about our lives and we are wondering whether or not to take a chance…..

For most, the choice is very obvious… take the road that is certain, do what is expected, and reinforce those doubts with good, solid common sense. And in most cases, that is the wise choice. (Maybe)

For the rest, it is the decision to take the road less travelled. Choose the unexpected option (the one your heart is begging you to take) and metaphorically GO FOR IT!

“Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There’s still time to change the road you’re on.” (I hope so!) Robert Plant

Once you have leaped off of a cliff…. You have eliminated most of your other options. You are all in. You will either fly or die and those odds are incredibly daunting to most people. So it is natural that most will not pursue this option.

If you do not take risks, you risk taking your journey through life without some of the greatest of life’s experiences… that unquenchable desire to continue to excel past our comfort zone into the unknown. You may feel more comfortable, more secure, more on solid ground, but perhaps in that choice, you have lost some of the most influential moments that can shape you into becoming who you are. Or more importantly, who you believe you are destined to become.

Same with risk taking in life. I felt awkward sitting in front of my house with my home made lemonade stand at 7 years old. Who would stop to buy a glass of lemonade from me?

Conquer the fear. It loves to dominate you. It lives rent-free in your brain. Smile at it when it shows up, it is trying to keep you alive. And then put it in a box and start figuring out how to fly, because you have jumped off the cliff, so being proficient at flying is now your only option.

Happy Tuesday!

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Written by Brian Weiner

When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!