Big Leaps!

"There is always the possibility of a fiasco.

But there is also the possibility of bliss."
Joseph Campbell

I smiled when I saw this quote on my phone this morning, thanks to The Daily Love, from Joseph Campbell, the original Jedi Warrior.

No matter if following your bliss leads you down many staring into the abyss moments, probably the worst thing that will happen is that it won't work out. I say this as someone who tends to like to ease my way into something sloooowly, testing those waters, cushy, shallow end style vs. the big uncomfortable leap into the deeper waters.

The thing is, I don't think that's how following your bliss works.

Earlier this week a friend sent me the picture above from a new upcycling collection bin that will be featured outside the World's Largest Retailer, for TerraCycle, an amazing company started by an entrepreneur in his dorm room whose business model is based on transforming the idea of waste into something useful. Besides 'solving a problem', what I've always loved about entrepreneurial businesses is that there's truly that epic hero's journey of a lot of verrrry uncomfortable soul searching moments, but also milestones like this that boost you with a fresh dose of courage to just keep moving!

The two years I worked with Sambazon, we had many memorable milestones such as first launching into grocery channel, opening a factory in the Amazon Rainforest, being recognized by the U.S. and Brazilian government for our sustainable agro-forestry model, being featured in People magazine and on Oprah - not to mention, the uphill awareness battle of having people learn to pronounce much less purchase this weird fruit they've never heard of before called açai! But there were also many, many failures, false starts, and disappointments.

When I first started working with them I asked the founder what in the world made him think he could transport this exotic and highly perishable fruit from a different part of the world, manufacture and market it and try to have even the smallest segment of America fall in love with it. He had told me something like "I didn't know to know."

I believe most of the dreams planted in our heart tend to have a really big column of all the calculated reasons why something won't work that stack up much higher than the reasons they will. And we're probably blessed with that ability not to see around the corner, in order to take those big leaps, with a mixture of faith, bravery and naiveté, or else we might never begin.

Also this week I saw an announcement about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith 'giving up their birthday' for charity: water. I can imagine that in his wildest dreams the founder never imagined that his original act of asking friends to donate to a well to bring fresh water to people living in extreme poverty would somehow place him on this path of having two of the most famous celebrities in the world, joining his cause. Then one run-of-the-mill Tuesday, he got the big call...

Will and Jada's Birthday Celebration from charity: water on Vimeo.

Following your bliss is being an entrepreneur in your own life, and it can be so bigger than the limits of our own imagination - we're the equipment.

Alternatively, you can also live your entire life without the big leaps and just ignore that annoying, gnawing feeling inside...because it will eventually go away.