Have you ever played the "Lotto Game"? It's where you talk to your spouse or a friend about what you would do if you won the jackpot.

Sure, we all have. My husband and I play this from time to time. I've noticed that we play it more often when we are starting to see are bank account shrink with no plan to bulk it back up. We talk about how we'll give 10% to church, pay off our house, our family's homes, new cars, and pay off all of our debts. Then we start talking about the kind of house we want to buy after we are free and clear of our current one.

Sometimes we "build" the house from the ground up in our conversation. It's going to be two stories, with an office for me, and game room for the kids, and a huge workshop in the back yard for my husband. Then we laugh and one of us usually says "Well, you got to play it to win it!". You hear that? "You got to play it to win it."

Isn't that the only way to have even that slightest chance to win? Life is like that. If you don't take your chances in life how can you expect to win? What about risks? When you play the lotto you risk losing that dollar. It's only a dollar most casual players will see it as that, just a dollar. Why are we so afraid to take big risks in life? We don't want to lose. We don't want to fail.

I started my business, I was afraid. I knew it was a risk. I was about to put in a lot of money I didn't have into a dream that statistically, in my industry, I would probably fail at. I asked myself "Why should I even try?" I knew it was going to be hard, and it still is. I had let my fears tie me down for so long.

My comfort zone kept me tethered to the ground never to reach up to my dreams. I was too afraid of failure and loss to even try. I was comfortable working my desk job. I clocked in at 8 am, did my work, had lunch, did more work, and clocked out.  My desk job never really had to come home with me. It just stayed there.  I stayed there. I'm still there, actually. However, it is no longer my career, it is my day job. It is what help me bring in income while I try to untie myself from my comfort zone. Sure, I'm still working with a safety net, but I'm no longer comfortable. I am spending more money, time, and effort outside of my home and my family.

I come home eat dinner with my family, watch a movie, hear about their day, and then when things wind down I go to the computer to work. I contact clients, continue my education in photography, plan shoots, balance my books. My evenings and weekends have been so full lately. Full. Now that I know what "Full" is I see that I had always had room in my life for me and never took it!

I don't want to be tied down to my comfort zone. I don't want to coast through life with just satisfaction. I want to be happy. I want my kids to see that it's OK to try. I may fail, and I want them to see that that's OK too.

When I was arguing with myself about starting my business my husband said to me "How will you know if you don't try?" We've all heard that before at one time or another, but this time it hit home to me. Why should I just day dream or wonder if. Don't get tied down. Don't just wait for something to happen. Chances are you'll be waiting for a long time.