There are three types of people you should never listen to. You should never seek their council because it will be worthless.
- People who have never taken a big risk on their dream.
- People who have never failed.
- People who have failed once but are afraid to fail again.
These people will kill your dreams because they’ll try to keep you from following them. Run away from them. Instead, find the crazies who have failed and followed dreams.
When I was six, my dad and I were hanging out at a river. We were in his beat up, pastor’s salary truck. I had the bright idea to ask him this, “What if we drove into the river?”
My dad knew this was a bad idea. He knew there were risks. But he also thought it might be fun. So he drove.
He let the front wheels roll into the water – not too deep – just enough for the front doors to be right above the water. We laughed and laughed. It was so much fun!
But when my dad went to reverse the truck, he realized the wheels were stuck. He couldn’t get any traction to back out of the water.
Thinking quickly, my dad drove forward a little, hoping he’d get the tires out of their rut and regain traction. Wrong move. We got deeper and deeper into the water. Eventually, water began pouring in through the bottom of the doors.
My dad finally found some help by wading out into the water and asking a police officer to tow us from the water. And a few months later the city placed massive rocks on the bank of the river to keep that from happening again. And my dad still willingly and fondly tells that story whenever we pass the river.
That story alone is why I will always listen to my dad’s council. I’ll always accept what he has to say. He’s shown me with that, and countless incidents since, that he is willing to risk and to fail. And, yes, he’s a very successful man.
Who do you have in your life that you’ve seen risk and fail? Who can you look to for encouragement and wisdom when you follow your dreams?
I read this the other day and thought I would share. “You can be cautious or you can be creative ( but there’s no such thing as a cautious creative). A cautious creative is an oxymoron.
When I saw the title of this article the first type of person that came to mind was people who write pithy, unoriginal, pseudo-motivational blogs on the internet. Upon reading your article I see I was right. First off, number 2 doesn’t exist, ever. Secondly, your story is off topic unless your dad’s lifelong dream was to get saved by a police officer, so it really doesn’t at all support your supposed reason for writing this article. It seems like you had two ideas, one is the misguided article about people that shouldn’t be listened to, and the other is some kind of explanation of why you trust your dad even though he is wrong alot?
My hubby is one of those who has never failed. He only tries things he knows he can be successful at doing. He’s never known the heartache of a huge fail and therefore is very risk adverse. Me, on the other hand, I have failed HUGE in big things. I found out that it doesn’t kill you and I’m not afraid to take a risk. I also want to be the kind of parent who would risk driving into the river. Thanks for your words.