The other day my wife and I watched “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was an okay movie. It was a little out there but I thought that it was well put together. I was wanting a little more action than what the movie had, but that’s just me I guess. I’m and action kind of guy.
Out of this entire movie, one word stuck out to me. I had heard the word before but never really knew exactly what it meant. It is the word, “Precipice.” In the movie, Keanu Reeves was an extraterrestrial being who came to earth to save it from the human race. In order to do that, his solution was to exterminate them. Well, through the entire movie, the woman who is with him is trying to convince him not to do it. She took him to a Professors home who gave him this line:
Professor Barnhardt: But it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment. Don’t take it from us, we are close to an answer.
Only at our precipice do we choose to change.
I looked up the definition online and this is what it came up with:
–noun
1. a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.
2. a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war.
So basically, only when times are at their worst do people find the will to change. In most cases, they find the will to change because they really have no other choice. It’s either find the will or perish and most people will find the will.
Isn’t this so true. Don’t most people wait until things are nearly unbearable before they decide to make a move and change it. As you all know, I teach people how to create a lifestyle of wealth and time freedom while working from home. I speak with hundreds of people every month who really, really want to become wealthy, or really want to have more time for their families, but will never take action. I think it’s because they aren’t at their precipice yet. They’re not staring down the edge of the cliff yet because they haven’t quite arrived there. Things aren’t bad enough and honestly, when they are bad enough, it may be too late. They may not have the resources available to them to make a significant change. But it is in those moments, the moments of peril, standing at the precipice, are leaders born. This is where people are given the opportunity to become great and will accomplish great things.
In your own life, if it is a life of wealth and freedom you seek, don’t wait until your precipice, or moment of peril before you evolve into the person you wish to be. Take the action now that will move you towards the things you know you deserve in your life. Have the vision to see where your life is headed if you don’t take that action. Operate from there, knowing that the precipice is coming, and avoid it. It’s just a choice.
Ahhhh, tax time! Have you received your W-2’s yet? What does it say in box 1? “Wages, tips, other compensation” right? What is the number figure in that box? 40k, 50k, 60k? Are you proud of that number? When you look at that W-2 does it make you feel good about yourself and the last YEAR of work? Are you proud of what you do and do you feel that your family is getting all they deserve out of that number in box 1? Now here’s the best question of all: Are you ready to do that all over again this year for that same number or just barely more? Are you ready to give another year to your employer?