Sometimes one small decision can have a huge impact on your life.

I’ve been doing a little reminiscing lately. 1983 was the first time I decided to compete at the US National Skydiving Championship. I was 21, had gone nuts about skydiving and 4-way was my favorite way to play. Competing at the Nationals just sounded like a good time. At the very least it was guaranteed to be a huge party. I didn’t for a second expect anything more than that out of it. Little did I know that this one decision would play a huge role in setting my life on an entirely new path.

During that one week in 1983 I was introduced to role models and adversaries. I met strangers who became life long friends. My imagination was opened up to opportunities I never would have thought possible.

After the meet I drove away from the Muskogee, Oklahoma airport dreaming about flying faster than any team I saw there, faster than any team in the world. I was on a mission and somehow, in pursuit of this dream, I figured out how to turn that passion into a career.

This experience proved to me that we don’t always know where new opportunities may be hiding.  We have to make the right decision which will open up the possibility for that opportunity to materialize. The interesting stranger you’re sitting next to could be someone that changes your life, but only if you make the decision to introduce yourself. That trip you’ve been thinking about taking could open up new doors but only if you decide to take the time off. That book you decide to read which changes your life forever. The decision to finally make that first skydive you’d been thinking about for years.

These types of decisions will almost always require us to be brave, to risk failure or embarrassment, to step out of our comfort zones, to try new things and to approach life with a deep sense of optimism.  They require that we look past the often insignificant possible negative consequences which hold us back, and to see the incredible possibilities that only come with some risk.

Its hard to believe but in a few weeks I’ll be going to my 30^th National Skydiving Championships. Can’t imagine what life would have been like had I not made that decision in 1983. We’re not always sure where that next big life changing decision will be.  But let’s be sure we’re looking for it.