The Crabs in the Bucket Story (And Why You Gave Up on Your Biggest Dream)

How many of us had a big, delusional, semi-unrealistic dream when we were younger, and somewhere along the way we just let it go? Not because we wanted to. It felt like the world was slowly pulling us away from it.

This week I tell the crabs in the bucket story: an old man fishing on a pier, a bucket full of crabs, and one crab trying to climb out. The old man doesn't even bother. The other crabs will pull him back in. That's exactly what happens to us. The people around us, sometimes friends and family, more often coworkers and classmates, pull us back into the bucket. Not because they don't like you. Because what you're doing reminds them of what they're not doing.

Then I get real about my own delusions. I'm 35, three kids, 5'9", can't dunk. I'm still chasing world-class athlete (HYROX and jiu jitsu now), New York Times bestselling author (so I keep writing), and a million-plus a year (so I keep saying yes to business).

Your homework: go back to the list. Pick something big, crazy, and potentially impossible. Write it down, feel it, envision it. It is not too late, and you have more time than you think. Don't waste it.

The Jump is for the guy with a mortgage and a family who wants to leave the safe job. New episodes weekly.

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