What would you do if you knew that you couldn’t fail? What would you do if you knew you were going to fail over and over again…but it didn’t matter to you? What if you knew…that every time you failed, you were getting closer and closer to that success…to the moment where you stand proud and tall…against all the odds, against all the criticism, the people who tell you no, who are not rooting for you, but against you and want you to fail. To feel that pain. To feel the disappointment, suffering, and weight of on looking eyes. Who speak quietly behind your back while you are out there doing what few won’t: being 100% real. Making your path, deciding what you want, and going out and getting it. Giving it everything you have, and who cares if no one else can see it yet, but they will. They will see the result…but they won’t see the journey. They won’t see all the late nights, the early mornings, the sweat, the blood, the tears. They won’t see that pain and suffering. They won’t see you dust yourself off every single time you fail…because the dream and the vision is so strong inside of you it doesn’t matter how hard you get knocked down.

The opinions of the critics don’t matter because they are not in the arena with you. They are onlookers, watching from the outside, waiting for you to trip and fall, so they could say they were right about you…that you couldn’t do it, that you can’t still, that you won’t. It has nothing to do with what are attempting to do, it has everything to do with their being afraid of what you could actually accomplish. Because what does that say to everyone else, when you actually accomplish what you dreamed. What you envisioned and what you set out to do from that first day you decided to take that first step. When you decided to put aside all of the fears, the doubts, and the insecurities and dive full hearted into something…a path…that you can’t see around the corner. But you run hard into the fog, because you know that you have prepared, you have done your work, you have made your own armor. Armor forged by the strongest steel, and hardened by the sound of the beat within your chest. You are ready to go to battle. It is time. Because now this is the test. It is time to give it everything you have because there are no more chances….there is no better time….there is no moment beyond this one. Faith with guide you, lights will guide you home, but most importantly, that same heartbeat the creates the armor, also creates the drive to move forward.

You are moving upstream. You are going against the current. Against what people tell you to do, what is recommended, what is considered safe. You have made a different path for yourself…and you believe in it with every ounce of your being. You have to believe in it because that is the only way you can survive. You can only survive if you go in believing that the only option is success in the end. Believe that there is no plan B because it distracts from plan A. When you are doing something that is causing people to react, you are making an impact on the world.

I do not want to be a forgotten soul. Pressure creates change, and I am under a lot of pressure right now. I love the first line of the music above “Throw dirt on me, and grow a wild flower.” Right now, I am trying to grow something inside of me that is pure and what I imagined. There is one more thing I want to talk about today. Whatever you goal is, make sure it is not achieved at the price of your soul. Because no goal is worth giving up your character for. Maintain your morals, your values, and yourself. Make sure that flower is pure. Love, Passion, Never Quit.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project