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Living your successful life requires you to step out. I remember as a teenager, right out of high school, learning this valuable lesson. Now - 15 years later - my life is the result of habitually stepping out.

The scene is Naval Recruit Training Center in San Diego, Ca. There I am, standing poker-straight in a line with some 15 other recruits as the Southern California sun tans our young faces.

"I need a volunteer," shouts the drill instructor. "Take one step forward!" The first thing you're taught in boot camp is never volunteer for anything. Of course, I wasn't very good at conforming and stepped right out.

The drill instructor approached. Standing nose to nose with me, he stated in a quiet "Dirty Harry" kind of voice "Pollock, do you know only true leaders step out front?"

John F. Kennedy, echoing Theodore Roosevelt, stated the idea more eloquently when he said:

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Living your life on your terms means stepping out on a regular basis. You have a song in your heart. Will you step out from the crowd and sing that song? Will you risk appearing the fool to live your dreams?

It may seem frightening and lonely to step out front. It is, but only for a short time. The comfort of conformity soon pales in comparison to the power, passion and excitement that comes with any bold, new, purposeful action.

You'll soon find others who've stepped out front with you. They're people like you who've grown weary of living a mediocre existence. They - like you - will have heeded the whisper of God within, which quietly says "It's your life. Make it great."

Step out front this week. It doesn't have to be a big step. Maybe you've been thinking about starting your own home based business. Perhaps you have an idea for your own newsletter. Maybe there's a class you've been wanting to take. Whatever it is, take your first step this week.

If you're not sure what that first step is for you, shoot me a message and we'll come up with it together.

Step out and have a great week!

It's your life! Create it the way you want it.