Don't Cut Yourself Off, Keep Doors Open

There's an epidemic in America. It's called defeatism. It's easier to take no action and absolutely fail rather than to try and fail.

This plays itself out in a number of ways. One I've noticed recently is too many people closing doors before they've closed themselves. Let me explain what I mean.

Every opportunity is an open door. Sometimes you're able to explore several without any of them slamming shut on you (which is AWESOME). Sometimes by choosing to walk through one door, you close another. No big deal if you're actively choosing one path. That's fine.

But what if you close all the doors around you without walking through any of them.  You lose all your opportunities and end up trapped. Oh and, to top it off, the only person you can blame is yourself.

Something I learned fairly young (thanks to my left-brain Vulcan logic) was to keep doors open as long as possible. It's my default. Unless I have proven to myself (think: logic proof) that one opportunity is better than another for some reason (and that could be preferences, costs, benefits, etc) I don't close any doors. I explore all possibilities. This practice has led me to some really fascinating life experiences.

My six week mission trip to Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Panama was one of those randomly explored options. I applied to the program and forgot about it. Then I was accepted and ended up going. The result? My whole life trajectory changed. My graduate program was a random door that opened up. I met with the director of the new program and felt like it was a great fit so I applied and was accepted. Putting up ads on Craigslist to teach art was a random door, and while I met limited success with it, I feel like I gained as much from teaching private lessons as my students did in receiving them.

These were doors I put a toe through and lost nothing by exploring them. Applying to programs cost a little time. But if I hadn't applied, I wouldn't have had the option of going. Likewise a series of subsequent experiences wouldn't have been possible.  Teaching art lessons lost me nothing. It was cost effective (even to drive 17 miles one way to a student's home) when I was earning no other income. I could do this and apply for other jobs in the meantime. If worse came to worst, I could work a part time job (which is what I ended up doing at that point). So I lost nothing. No doors were completely closed.

Bam.

In the end, we have to decide what opportunities to pursue. Some doors will close, but we don't have to close them early by telling ourselves "Oh, I can't do this" or "They won't let me blah blah blah." By keeping doors open for as long as possible, we remove limitations. We allow ourselves the option of success and the possibility for unexpected experiences. In short, by keeping doors open, we give ourselves permission to be impressively awesome.

This is how half of my best real life adventures started.

You have nothing to lose by trying this, but everything to lose by not. Logically, don't you think it's worth trying?