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Recently, I had the chance to see part of the movie Collateral.
In it, actor Jaimie Foxx plays a cab driver named Max who
happens to pick up the wrong customer one night. That customer
is Vincent, a hit man played by Tom Cruise.
I found one bit of dialogue from the movie very interesting. In
one particular scene, Max is describing his future plans to
start his own Limo business. He boasts that driving a cab is
just a temporary transition until the timing is right to begin
this dream of his. As the conversation continues, Max reveals
that he’s been a cab driver for 12 years!
This is typical of so many people who talk about their dreams
but are afraid to ever follow through with them. Following their
dream is just too risky for some, so excuses are made for
putting them off. “Now’s not the right time,” they rationalize
“I need to have all my ducks in a row.”
The problem is, that time never comes. Before they realize it,
they've traded in those aspirations for the security and comfort
of a steady paycheck. They exchange their dreams for a handful
of “peanuts”. In Africa, they catch monkeys by placing a few
peanuts inside a hollow coconut which is attached to a long
rope. One end of the coconut has a small hole cut out that is
just large enough for a monkey’s hand.
As the monkey smells the peanuts, he comes up to the coconut and
reaches inside to grab a fistful. Once he has a fistful of
peanuts, his hand becomes too large to pull back out of the
hole. What’s even more interesting is that he will not let go of
those peanuts despite being hauled in for capture.
We might laugh at this monkey, but how many people are out there
working in a job they hate simply because they can’t let go of
the security. Like Max, they have dreams, but they never get
around to acting on them because they fear giving up those
peanuts.
So what goals and aspirations have you been putting on hold?
Most clients I meet with know deep down what they would love to
be doing. The problem is they’re not doing anything about it. My
advice is to not let another day slip by without sitting down
and making a plan for what you would love to be doing the rest
of your life. If you need help and direction making those plans,
www.careercalling.com.
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