There was one final profound factor that helped me decide to sell my company after 33 years, and it had nothing to do with money. I was moved to make the jump after reading a popular quote by Anais Nin: “And the day finally came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Have you ever come to a crossroads in your life where you had the choice to remain tight in your box of appropriate behavior and continue to reap the rewards consistent with safety and security? Or, choose to play a bigger game and risk everything for an opportunity that could change your life forever? I think most of us at various times in our life dream about how it could be, if only we could muster the courage to take the risk. And sometimes all it takes is a little nudge of wisdom. Let’s listen, while Helen Keller whispers to us from her grave: “Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.”

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