Two words you better say when you chase a dream.

For four years I’ve been playing around with an idea. With each book I wrote or blog I started, the need for this got more and more obvious. But, something was holding me back, something was preventing me from moving forward. What was it?

My ego.

I have a hard time admitting when I need help.

I’d rather be self succient, have it all figured out, be all strength, no weakness.

But the truth is, the idea I had was something I did not have the ability to execute. Try as I might, the skills needed to pull it off where not in my wheelhouse or toolbox or other metaphor people end sentences like this with.

And so I learned two really important words you need to say a lot when you chase a big dream. They’re not that fancy. They probably won’t brighten your teeth when you read them. You might not retweet them. Here they are:

“I can’t.”

We’re so afraid to say those two words that we’ll sit on dreams or ideas for years. We don’t want people to see we’ve reached the edge of our ability, so we pretend we don’t have one. We fake and front and refuse to say those two words, but in doing so something horrible happens. Unless we say, “I can’t,” we don’t get to say the next two words:

“Who can?”

The amount of power and potential hidden in those two words is unbelievable. Those two words open up your dream to an entire world of help. Those two words take you down wildly fun paths to find other people who have skills different than yours.

But unless you say, “I can’t,” you’ll never say, “Who can?”

What happened when I admitted “I can’t” and said “who can?” with this idea I’ve been sitting on for 4 years?

I found somebody who can.

Next week I’ll be spending an entire day with a group called “Proof.” They’re helping me figure out the idea and launch it. In the planning sessions we’ve already had, they’ve already multiplied the potential awesomeness of it by about a million.

Not only that, but they’re going to come to the Quitter Conference and do a special session about launching ideas from 7:00AM – 7:45AM. (This is a conference for people who hustle, you can sleep in the week after. We’ve got too many fun things to do!)

If you’re coming to the Quitter Conference, don’t miss Proof.

If you’re stuck on an idea or have reached the end of your ability in a certain area, don’t be afraid to say “I can’t.”

Unexpectedly awesome things can happen when you say, “Who can?”

Question:
When is the last time you said, “I can’t?”