I love talking to older people.
I ask about their successes.
But I also ask about their failures.
And I learn so much!
John Izzo says that unlike younger people, older people are already looking back into their lives. They’re more reflective. And because of that, some of them are wiser.
Because hindsight is always wiser than foresight. (This is translated in Tagalog as “Papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ako.”)
In fact, there’s a Romanian proverb that says, “If a house doesn’t have an old person, they should buy one.”
The Bible says, Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. (Leviticus 19:32)
My mother taught me to stand before an older person, take her hand and place it on my forehead. We seek the blessing and wisdom of older people.
If there’s an older person before you (just be sure!), rise up in his or her presence, and ask for a blessing.
What Is The Most Common Regret?
And what can older people teach us?
Their regrets.
John Izzo did extensive interviews of 235 people above the age of 59 and asked them their regrets in life.
And what was the most common regret he found?
“I didn’t take enough risks.”
It was like a constant refrain that his older interviewees were saying again and again.
They said it in different ways:
“I played it too safe.”
“I didn’t try enough.”
“I was crippled by fear.”
In other words, they didn’t even try to get what they wanted.
They didn’t try to pursue their dreams.
I hear this statement from the older people I meet: To have tried and failed is so much better than not trying at all.
Why don’t we take enough risks?
Because of fear.
I believe life is really a battle between our dreams and our fears. Many times, our fears win.
You Live In Either Two Zones
You live in either two places.
A lot of people live in their Comfort Zone.
Their life is limited to the confines of this circle.
But here’s the problem: All success is found outside this little circle.
Let me give you a perfect picture of your Comfort Zone: It’s a Memorial Park.
So peaceful. So tranquil. So quiet. So dead.
Why? Memorial Parks are all about remembering the past. It’s never about facing the future.
One day, I did my morning exercise in Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Paranaque. They say it’s one of the largest cemeteries in the Philippines.
It was really beautiful there in the morning–trees, birds, sunlight. But while walking, it suddenly hit me (like a bat hitting my head): It wasn’t just a graveyard of dead people. It was also a graveyard of dreams unfulfilled.
I was literally standing on the cemetery of dead dreams!
Many acts of love not done.
Many marriages not strengthened.
Many families not united.
Many books not published.
Many songs not sung.
Many dances not danced.
Many trips not taken.
Many businesses not launched.
Many homes not built.
Many ministries not created.
Many hugs not given.
Friend, I’ve got a message for you: God doesn’t want you to have regrets in your life. God doesn’t want you to die with your dreams still unfulfilled. In fact, God gave you those dreams so that you can make them happen.
Do you feel discouraged?
Are your problems weighing you down?
I’ve learned this principle: Never focus on your problems. Focus on your possibilities. The problems will pull you down. The possibilities will push you up.
Today, God wants you to relocate from your Comfort Zone to your Courage Zone.
Success Lies At The Edge
Move into your Courage Zone!
The Comfort Zone is like a Memorial Park.
But the Courage Zone is like a Magic Factory.
In your Comfort Zone, your dreams vanish.
In your Courage Zone, your dreams come true.
In your Comfort Zone, you wake up to die.
In your Courage Zone, you wake up to serve and love and build God’s Kingdom in this world!
By the way, only big people live in the Courage Zone. Big people who have dedicated their lives for big things. They don’t have time to fight over small things.
When You Don’t Change,
You Start Dying
I repeat: The Comfort Zone is like a Memorial Park.
· Marriages who stay in the Comfort Zone become lifeless marriages.
· Families who stay in the Comfort Zone become estranged families.
· Companies who stay in the Comfort Zone never innovate, become dinosaurs, and become extinct.
· Persons who stay in the Comfort Zone stop growing and lose their edge, their passion, and their joy for living.
When you stop changing, you start dying.
You don’t want this.
God doesn’t want this to happen to you.
You need to make a decision.
You don’t want to live in a Memorial Park.
Relocate!
How Do You Step Into Your Courage Zone?
There really are only two steps:
Step 1: Define Your Success
Step 2: Have An Exploring Mindset
1.Define Your Success
I’ve got an assignment for you.
Get a pen and piece of paper.
I want you write down what you really want for your life.
Clearly. Graphically. Deliberately.
In other words, define your success.
(Stop reading. Do it!)
Finished?
Look at your list in your hand again.
Here’s what I want you to know: Everything you want in life is just outside your Comfort Zone. All success is found in your Courage Zone.
Have you been stuck in your job?
Have you been single for the longest time?
Do you feel trapped in your addictions?
Have you remained stagnant in your spiritual journey?
Are you buried in debt?
Are your family relationships always strained?
Are your dreams still unfulfilled?
Every single one of your dreams is found in your Courage Zone. When you realize that, you’ve won half of the battle.
Here’s the second step…
2. Have An Exploring Mindset
Many times, I just have a vague idea of where I want to go, but I don’t know the exact way of how to go there.
Does that bother me?
No. That excites me!
Because I have an exploring mindset.
I have a radical philosophy of life: Action precedes clarity.
A lot of people want everything clear before they act.
They will never succeed in life.
If you want to succeed big time, you have to act (and act and act and act) before everything becomes clear.
Obviously, you’ll make lots of mistakes.
But that’s great!
Because through your mistakes, the path will become clear.
All Success Is Just Outside Your Comfort Zone
One day, Joey was complaining about his teenagers.
“They’re just so darn rebellious!”
After telling me a long list of the bad things they do, I asked Joey, “And what do they say about you?”
“About Me? They think I’m Hitler. That I hurt them. That I don’t understand them. My goodness! If it’s war they want, then it’s war they’ll get!”
Boy, was he angry. I thought I saw fumes go out of his nostrils. Were those horns growing on his head? My imagination was tricking me.
I asked him, “Joey, what do you want to happen?”
“I want them to follow me!” he blurted out.
I nodded. “Is that all?”
He began to calm down.
After taking a deep breath, he said, “Actually Bo, I just… I just want them to be good kids. I want them to grow up well.”
At that moment, he defined his success.
I now wanted him to explore the edge.
I dropped a big question. “Joey, are you willing to do anything–absolutely anything–so that your kids will turn out right?”
He sighed, “Yes, Bo.”
“Then get out of your Comfort Zone. I presume you’ve been using anger for the longest time. It’s your tool of choice and it’s not been working. I suggest you start using other tools.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Like asking forgiveness from your kids for the times you’ve hurt them.”
His jaw dropped.
He looked at me like I said something absurd, like “Burn your house” or “Swallow a frog” or “Chop your hand.”
“It’s clear that you hurt them,” I said, “As father, you’re the leader. And leaders sacrifice. Only strong leaders have the capacity to ask forgiveness.”
He stammered, “Bo, I’ve…uh… I’ve never done this before. My own parents never asked forgiveness from me.”
I told him, “Everything you want is just outside your Comfort Zone. Great kids, great family, great relationships–all these are not found in your Comfort Zone. All these are found in the Courage Zone.”
One week later, he came up to me at the Feast and told me that he did it. He went over to his kids and asked for forgiveness.
For the first time in their relationship, they wanted war but he gave them love. Though there’s a long way to go, he’s so happy because their healing has started.
Why did Joey experience victory?
Simple. Because he left his Comfort Zone and went to his Courage Zone.
God Wants You To Conquer Your Fear
The whole Bible is a story of God calling people out of their Comfort Zones and into their Courage Zones.
Abraham was very comfortable in the land of Ur.
He was born there. He played marbles and patentero there. He got married there. All his friends were there. All his memories were there.
But one day, God said, “Migrate to Canaan.”
And boom, off he went to live in a foreign land.
Moses was very comfortable among the Egyptians.
Because he was a prince. He lived in the palace of Pharaoh. He had servants serving him 24 hours a day. His political career was bright and rosy.
But one day, God called him to go into his Courage Zone. He asked him to lead the entire nation of slaves out of Egypt. Through the red sea. Through the scorching desert. Through the next 40 years! Insane!
Peter was a very comfortable in his fishing boats.
His brother was a fisherman. His father was a fisherman. And his grandfather was a fisherman. Shucks, all his ancestors were fishermen. His life was very peaceful. He saw himself fishing until his retirement.
But one day, God called him to go into his Courage Zone. He asked him to be a fisher of men–and made him the head of the Church.
From Kid To Preacher
When I was 13 years old, I was very comfortable as a kid watching my cartoons and reading comic books. But one day, God called me to live in my Courage Zone.
He called me to be a preacher.
The only time I gave a speech was in a oratorical contest in school. My teacher picked my name at random and I had no choice. I had to join it.
I won second place.
But there were only two contestants. (Serious!)
In other words, I wasn’t a great speaker.
But my prayer group leader said, “Bo, God is calling you to preach. Give a talk in our next prayer meeting.”
Boy, I was such a great speaker, I healed people’s insomnia.
But I didn’t stop.
From Preacher To “Father”
When I was 14 years old, Light of Jesus was born.
He didn’t only want me to be a Preacher. He wanted me to be a “Father” of a spiritual family.
It’s easy to preach. You come in, you give your talk, and you leave. You’re “hired” to do a job.
But as a “Father”, you come in… and you never leave.
And I haven’t left.
Today, we celebrate our 30th birthday as a community.
From “Father” To Writer
I was getting comfortable as leader.
But ten years later, I felt God was telling us to start a media ministry. We called it Shepherds Voice. We began with one magazine, Kerygma, at 2000 copies.
Today, it publishes the widest read inspirational literature in the country.
Every success of my journey was a result of stepping into my Courage Zone. Every step! No exception.
When we built Anawim.
When we built our other ministries for the poor.
When we built KerygmaFamily.com
When we built the Feast…
PICC, Here We Come
Next month, we start a new Feast in PICC (Philippine International Convention Center). Believe me, this move is a step into the Courage Zone. I believe God is calling us to serve more people with God’s Love. And so we go there.
Friend, has God given you a dream but you’ve not been doing anything about it?
Have you been living in your Comfort Zone?
Have you been held back by fear?
God is saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am filling your heart with courage. I will be with you. I will never forsake you.”
I know of a woman who heard these words in her life.
Her name is Tes Barcelona.
A Woman Who Always Lived
In Her Courage Zone
Tes is the wife of my friend Alvin Barcelona. (Alvin is the Preacher at the Feast in Marilao, Bulacan.)
Tes came from a poor family.
From the province, she went to Manila to study. She stayed in a relative’s house and served them, washing their clothes and cleaning the house–just so that she could study.
And so that she could have enough money to enroll, she took a part-time job: She was a janitress in her school. From 6am to 3pm, this high school girl would sweep the grounds of her school. She earned P60 each week. But Tes wouldn’t spend it. She would save every Peso for her tuition money.
She was so poor, she remembers looking at the cupcake her classmate was eating–and she’d just smell it. Because she couldn’t afford to buy one.
She’d go home from school very tired. But she still couldn’t rest. In the evening, she’d still wash the clothes of the family she was serving.
But she persevered throughout high school and college.
When she finally graduated, she became a teacher.
When she received her first salary, she bought 24 cupcakes!
But she didn’t eat them.
She went home and gave them all away to her family.
Tes Barcelona with her family
Sweet Smell Of Success
I’ve known Tes for many years now.
Believe me, Tes is someone who never lives in her Comfort Zone. She doesn’t like her life to be too comfortable.
Why? I believe Tes’ hardships in her younger life forced her to live in her Courage Zone. And she knows no other way to live.
How courageous is she?
When she was only 24 years old, Tes put up her own school–Powerkids Academy. She started with 33 students in a makeshift house. (Question: How many of you would start a school when you’re 24?)
A few years later, Tes opened another branch of the school.
Today, only 14 years later, Powerkids Academy has grown to over 700+ students in 2 locations. Last year, she built a new 4-story building for her school.
But as the finishing touches of that new building were still being made, Tes is opening yet another school in another location.
She recently bought a new 4-story school building worth P100 Million!
Note: She bought it even if she didn’t have money! They borrowed money from the bank.
Her story’s title?
From School Janitress to School Directress!
It has been my privilege to watch this journey every step of the way. Whenever they made a big decision, Alvin and Tes would consult me. We’d sit together over dinner and pray together.
Why is Tes so successful?
Because Tes tried.
Because Tes took risks.
She defied convention. She made a lot of mistakes. She failed a lot of times. But everytime, she rose up and tried again.
How Not To Take Risks
Here’s a problem.
People don’t know how to take risks.
It’s unfamiliar territory.
Thus, they take the wrong risks.
Here’s my simple guideline: Leave your Comfort Zone, get into your Courage Zone, but never go out of your Core Zone. Your Core Zone is the area of your Core Gift.
I’m a Communicator. I went out of my Comfort Zone and now communicate through the Internet and other forms of Media.
But I won’t teach dancing.
I won’t teach cooking.
Because they’re not my Core Gifts.
Tess is an Educator. She went out of her Comfort Zone and built three schools in Bulacan.
But she won’t build a beauty parlor.
She won’t start a clothing store in a mall.
She’ll stick with Education.
I repeat: Live in your Courage Zone within your Core Zone.
Last Big Question
My friend, I have a big question for you: Where do you live?
Do you live in your Courage Zone or in your Comfort Zone?
If you want success, you know where you should live.
See you in the Courage Zone!
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
PS. Be Courageous And Gain Financial Abundance! Everything you want is just outside your Comfort Zone. I invite you to get into your Courage Zone. How? Join me in my How To Be Truly Rich Seminar this June 12, 8:30am to 12noon, at Mandaluyong. Change your life! There are a few more seats available, but fast disappearing. For details, click here.
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