THE POWER TO EXCEL

What makes some people so driven to achieve whatever they want? Are some people just born to overcome obstacles and have the determination to excel? Is drive an internal force that is totally innate and unavoidable? Why do some people have it and some others do not? Can anyone “acquire” the drive to follow their passions and materialize their goals?

I have been blessed to have met and known a wide array of people, most of them with their unique conquer stories worth telling, listened to, and learned from. I have a lot of those as my friends, and everyday I am amazed at how much I can learn from their experiences and how much admiration they deserve for having the courage to embark in their journeys with such determination. Sometimes, though, the ability to brake the chains of the old, see a bigger picture, and realize how much better and brighter that picture is in spite of the present reality is tarnished by the oppression of comfort and fear. Comfort makes one wonder but decide not to move. Fear paralyzes.

I believe all humans have the power to excel, and sometimes that is proven when the worst of scenarios happen. But how to overcome fear? How to trespass the invisible but apprehensive force of fear and decide to take chances? Why can some people do it but others will not? Of course, the answers are very complex and not easy to find or explain. However, a lot of individuals do not settle for their present reality, take charge of their lives, and make the decision to take their chances to create their own destiny. For me there is nothing worse than living in an undesirable situation and have it perpetuated by fear. Fear of what? Fear of failing? Are there really failures in life?

There is an old proverb in Spanish (at least we say it in Puerto Rico) that says that it is better to live with bad than to venture with good-to-be-known (I made my best translation; the say actually goes: Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer). I actually think that many times we do not know what we have been missing until we find it. I rather go by the second than to settle for fear. Everybody has the power to excel, even when it is hidden. We just have to look within, find it, and unleash it.