When someone hands you an opportunity to get one step closer to your lifelong dreams, why would you not grab it by both hands and do everything you can to never let go?

It’s a question we often ask others, but don’t do a good job of answering it ourselves.

About once a month my wife Christal drags me and the kids to a mall. Since we have only been in Houston a little over a year, there are still a ton of shopping areas we have not checked out. I actually enjoy seeing these malls and shopping centers, but I never really buy anything for myself. My goal is to keep a list of places that I would go if I needed to buy a gift for Christal or the kids. I’m terrible about buying things for myself and will overthink any purchase over ten bucks. Just like anyone else, I have a list of wants, but I’m either too cheap or whatever to buy anything. It annoys Christal as I pick items up, smile, show them to her and then set them back down. She often shouts “BUY IT! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BUY IT”. Or something like that…

We walk into a high-end shoe store and look around. Men’s shoes on the right and women’s on the left. An employee in his late 20s walks over and asks me if I have any questions. I heard what he said, but was more blown away about how he said it. I told him I was fine and that I’m just browsing. He then walks over to my wife and asks the same question. She, before answering him, makes eye contact with me, smiles, and then tells the man “I’m good. Thank you”.

Why the smile?  Because this man sounded like Morgan Freeman. Good looking young guy with a smooth, deep voice and a very natural and unforced delivery. He wasn’t stressing his voice, he was just talking. I have always been jealous of people with these big, beautiful, I could read the dictionary and make every word sound sexy, voices. I was not blessed with a deep, rich voice.  I actually sound like a thirteen year old boy who could never get on the other side of puberty.  Why anyone bought the podcast version of my last book #Tryharder, is beyond me. The good news for me is I will sound young forever.  This comes in handy when a client needs a kid to voice something and we can’t find a kid. I also do a mean Pee-Wee Herman impression...not that you asked. #Iknowyouarebutwhatami

I walk over to the guy, ask him his name (It’s David) and what his plans were with a voice like that. Yes, I am often this direct. He then tells me he wants to become a voice actor, read commercials and possibly do books on tape for a living. He specifically wants to read children’s books. He’s never done any of this before and doesn’t know how to get started. I reach into my wallet, hand him my business card and suggest that if he wants to start taking steps towards that goal, he should reach out. He thanks me several times, we shake hands and I walk out of the store.

That was almost 4 months ago and I have yet to hear from the part-time shoe salesman that dreamed of making his living talking into a microphone. That same thing I have done for the past 23+ years, only he has the natural voice for it. All the potential in the world, but he cannot seem to make that one phone call or send that one email.

Here’s your tickets to the other side of the door and all you have to do is knock!

We are all like David in some form. This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. Pursuing your dreams can be scary. When we dream about something, it stays there. It doesn’t move and it never really changes. It’s familiar. Comfortable. When you take steps to pursue the dream, it can often run from you, move or become something you no longer want.  Dreams can sometimes try to escape from you, but you have to take that chance. If you achieve your goals, you can become afraid that fulfillment will cause another hole or emptiness inside you. That should be the risk worth taking.

Chasing and catching your dreams is scary and sometimes people would rather dream about the opportunity and the moments that passed them by; rather than the accomplishments of catching the dream. Old men sit around and talk about what could have been, while being jealous and throwing shade on those who went out and did it. To be honest, for every couple of dreams you’ve made come true, there have been one or two that you never pursued out of fear. Nobody catches everything they chase and often those misses are out of fear of accomplishment. It’s scarier to pursue than it is to just let things pass.

#Tryharder to recognize those launch points that life provides you. When the door presents itself, knock on it. When it opens, stick your foot in and never look back or let the challenges inside throw you out. Be brave and curious enough to make eye contact with the “what if” and identify those who want to see you win. If it makes you happy, there’s nothing really wrong with being the guy with the golden voice, working at a high-end shoe store in a popular mall (or whatever it is you do in life), but know that you are capable of doing more with your gifts.

All you have to do is knock.