Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

How often have you heard or thought something similar to the following comments? You can’t. You are too old. You are too young. You don’t have enough education. You don’t have a degree. You have let too much time pass to really pursue your dreams.

I have one question in regards to all those and other similar statements – who said? Who said you were too young? Who said you were too old? Who said you don’t have enough education? Who said – who said – who said? Don’t forget the main question and thought I am asking as we proceed – who said? 

Think back to when you were four five or six years old. Maybe you were that little girl who was always baking cookies and selling them to your friends and neighbors. You even did a lemonade stand during the summer. Your family told you that you could become a world famous baker and business woman. At 37 you still have a passion for baking and making food and think back to when you were seven.

Maybe you were that little boy who was always building a great and very detailed building out of Legos. Your family told you that you could become a world famous architect and build the world’s tallest building someday. At 35 you still love to play with your son’s Legos and think back to when you were six.

People around you used to say you could be or do anything you wanted to when you grew up. They said you could be the world famous baker and entrepreneur. They said you could build the world’s largest skyscraper. Whether you were that little girl or little boy something changed as you grew older.

You continued to bake cookies and build things, but people then started to say, ‘You can’t make any money doing that…You have to have realistic…It is way too hard.’ They didn’t want you to set your sights to high so you wouldn’t be disappointed. They thought they were trying to be helpful. This is where we have to go back to the main point of today’s article and ask – who said?

You have always had a passion for baking or building and you still do to this day. Somewhere along the way you went from feeling like you could conqueror the world and be the best cookie maker or skyscraper builder to thinking it was not possible to follow your passion. This changed based on what some people said to you along the way. Again, who said?

You let your passion fade because some well meaning people along the way told you that you need to be realistic, or it would be too hard, or you need more education, or no one has ever done that before. Most, if not all of these same well meaning people let their passion or dream fade because someone told them the same things they told you. Again, who said?

You can look in your past and even in your present to find people who said you couldn’t, you shouldn’t and you can’t. Who said? Rekindle your dreams and passions. Go bake some cookies and sell them. Go build a building out of Legos. Do something you are passionate about. Others have told you that you couldn’t, you shouldn’t and you can’t. The most important who in the phrase who said is you! What do you say about your dreams and passions?

About the Author

Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.