#reflectingaboutlife
I did a little reflecting with my journey in magic today and wanted to share with you all the thoughts I had running through my mind
In 2009 I was in my final year of Accounting at the Adelaide University, I was doing placement at an accounting firm and it was in that experience that I learned I was in the wrong profession. It wasn’t just a feeling of bordem or discomfort it was my entire mind and soul repelling what I was doing (quite an intense feeling to be honest and no jokes implied here!). I realised in that moment that I have neglected my dreams and passions in life for far too long. I was about to commit my self to a life of doing something that I hated, to make money that I didn’t need, to buy things I didn’t want so that I could impress people I didn’t care about – it completely didn’t make sense to me . This hit me at 100 kmph smack bang in the face, I pretty much had a early life crisis. That very week I went into University and quit my degree with 6 months left, to me the purpose of being alive is to do what you love and are passionate about, I felt so strongly about this and was not about to settle for anything else. People often search for the meaning of life or the purpose of life etc but what they don’t realise is that the meaning and purpose of life is what you make it. You don’t find the meaning to life, you create the meaning with the decisions that you make.
There I was 22 and starting my career as a magician, I had about $50,000 of savings (thank goodness my parents instilled great saving habits in me). This meant I had a runway that was about 2 years long, this was the most exhilarating and amazing time of my life. I felt like I broke free of the mould and was pursing a life that I’ve always wanted. Don’t get me wrong, it was one of the most difficult journeys of my life I failed so many times but with passion by my side and an amazing family I’ve been able to get to where I am today. Today I’ve been able to build a successful online business called Encyclopedia of Magic and last year won South Australian Young Entrepreneur of the year a couple of years ago, I am a professional speaker and have spoken at over 100 events last year all over the world.
*Quick disclaimer: There is 100% nothing amazing about me, I was the one oriental kid at school that was bad at maths, I did year 12 twice, I moved schools 4 times in 5 years and the list goes on. I’m just a normal guy who was born and lives in South Australia, Adelaide. Again nothing special about me but there’s something very special in the lesson I am about to share with you that made me the man I am today.
The message here is simple, in life I feel like we are all getting ready at the start line of a race. You know when you are on the race line and you’re about to run your heart out! and there’s an umpire who yells “Get ready – get set……GO!”. Here’s the problem, I feel like so many of us in life get ready and get set but we never GO. We spend so much time planning about what we want to do, it might be fitness goals, financial goals or simply spend more time with family goals. We spend so much time getting ready to do these things but we just never GO! I guess I just wanted to share with you what happened the moment after I said GO, sure there were a lot of challenging and scary things but imagine the life you are not living as a result of not going. Find one thing that you want to do this year in 2015 and give yourself the permission to GO! and fire that gun at the start line and run your hardest.
“A ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for..”