Doubt is an ugly human habit. We doubt ourselves, we doubt others, and we doubt anything we can. This is our own way of trying to protect ourselves from pain and failure. We build these walls around ourselves from the doubts we have, piling them as high as we can as a safety net. However, listening to this doubt might cause more harm than good, in the end.

Most of us have dreams to be something better than average, to rise above, creating the best possible life for our families. Yet many of us let the doubt in the back of our heads prevent us from taking the necessary steps to reach this level of greatness. While we may strive for more, we don’t take the steps needed to actually move towards our goals. We settle for an average life because this is safer.

Settling for average is easy, but it kills dreams. You live your entire life inside of a box where you fit comfortable. Your comfort box is what prevents you from flourishing, letting doubt tuck us in. This is when you start living the same day over and over. Not experiencing any real growth. Every dream you have ever had is just outside this box. It is within reach, you just have to be willing to step out.

What is the point of life if you just accept what is handed to you? Do you not want to live for a greater purpose? Hundreds of years from now your name will fade from this existence, if you don’t make it mean something more while you still have the chance. Leave your mark on humanity and let them remember you long after you are gone. Let them know that you never settle for average, but rather you reached for something greater and because of that you lived the life you always dreamed of.

How do you achieve this greatness? There doesn’t seem to be just one equation for accomplishing this, but rather many. It all starts with a single step, as all great voyages do. Most people who have reached a high level of success don’t find it overnight. They kept working for it through all their failure and disappointment. They had faith that, if they put in the work, there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. Greatness is a journey that is built one step at a time.

On this journey you will absolutely be pelted with thoughts of doubt and might even want to quit some days. The key is to push through these. Sure, doubt can help you avoid failure, but failure is still one step closer to greatness. Failure and success are not endpoints, but rather new beginnings. They are the start of a new journey, teaching you how to adapt to situations by pushing through and making it work any way you can. In failure you can achieve success and in success you can find failure. So never settle, never quit.