What lie are you telling yourself?

A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.
— Anonymous

The biggest lie of all is "Everyone can do it!" The truth is that not everyone can do everything. If an Average Joe succeeds, suddenly every Average Joe thinks that they can do it too. The truth is that some will succeed and others won't. In the concierge and errand industry, not everyone who sets out to start their own business will be able to make a go of it. Why not? It is not necessarily about whether they have the money or not to. Rather, it is because not everyone has the skills or attitude to do so.

I have seen all kinds of people enter this industry. Those that are looking to make a quick buck, those wanting to stay home with their kids, those looking to get out of the rat race, those who have the personality and no skills, those that have the skills but the attitude is all wrong, and the list could go on and on. Some will succeed, while many others don't. It is heartbreaking for those that truly want to do this, but lack the training or skills necessary to really make it work.

In life, it is the same. My youngest son played flag football for the city this past fall. I had so much fun watching him play and watching him have fun himself. Whether he won or not was not a problem with me, but you could tell it was for many parents. The truth was, not all of those kids had the skill or attitude to win. My son, being one of the biggest boys on his team sure had the skills to win. He had a tiny kid shaking in his boots when he had to face my son at the line of scrimmage. But my son does not have that "take no prisoners" attitude. He was helping kids up when they fell, even if they were on the other team. He wouldn't make it past the first day of boot camp in the NFL if I was to send him there today. I don't want to start a lie today that will not hold up later in life, so I tell him it is all about having fun now.

I enjoy my Sudoku puzzles. Do I have the skills to complete the puzzles? Yes. Do I have the attitude to complete the puzzles? Yes. Am I the fastest person out there? No. Am I disappointed? No. The reason why? I already told myself the truth when I started. The fact of the matter is that there are probably tons of people out there who are able to complete their puzzles much quicker than I am able to.

When you are contemplating a business, a hobby, a job, or pretty much anything else in life, you need to evaluate what your skills and attitude are at that moment. You need to lay all of the facts out on the table. If you are honest with yourself, you may find that you really want to do it, but lack the skills. You may find that training will be what you need to get ahead or you may find that no matter how much training you get, you just will not be able to do it. You may find that you have years of experience that you have been building, but once you dig deep into what really needs to be done, you may realize that whatever it is may just not be your cup of tea or you may find that this is something you've been waiting to do for years.

If after analyzing everything you still lie to yourself right now, where will it take you in the future?