Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small

by Mark Batterson

The Lion Chaser’s Manifesto Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Run to the roar. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-given passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Stop pointing out problems. Become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past. Start creating the future. Face your fears. Fight for your dreams. Grab opportunity by the mane and don’t let go! Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Live for the applause of nail-scarred hands. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Dare to fail. Dare to be different. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

You are one idea, one risk, one decision away from a totally different life. Of course, it’ll probably be the toughest decision you ever make, the scariest risk you ever take. But if your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s too small.

If you’re looking for an excuse, you’ll always find one. If you’re looking for an opportunity, you’ll always find one.

The best way to discover your dream is to help other people accomplish theirs!

if your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s too small.

Your greatest legacy isn’t your dream. Your greatest legacy is the next generation of dreamers that your dream inspires—the dreams within a dream.

If you want to live an epic life, you have to overcome some epic challenges. You have to take some epic risks, make some epic sacrifices.

We tend to avoid situations where the odds are against us, but when we do, we rob God of the opportunity to do something supernatural.

Every step needs to be carefully measured at critical junctures. Like a good carpenter, you need to measure twice and cut once. If you measure only once, you’ll probably have to cut twice! Of course, if you’re afraid of making a mistake, you’ll probably miss the opportunity. So it’s a balancing act.

hockey great Wayne Gretzky. His secret to success? “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

That mind-set is exemplified by actor Will Smith’s not-so-secret secret to success: I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked. You may be more talented than me. You might be smarter than me. And you may be better looking than me. But if we get on a treadmill together you are going to get off first or I’m going to die.

No one achieves his or her dream without daily disciplines.

You get into shape one workout at a time. You get out of debt one payment at a time. You get your graduate degree one class at a time. You get the music scholarship one rehearsal at a time. You get the job promotion one project at a time. You get the game ball one practice at a time. Whatever dream journey you’re on, you have to take it one step at a time. And if you keep doing the right things day in and day out,

Obedience earns compound interest.

And like the other success stories in Chase the Lion, it takes a strong work ethic. We glamorize success, but it always comes back to basics. You have to practice scales, practice skills, practice techniques over and over and over again. And it will take lots of sacrifices, which usually starts with setting your alarm clock extra early in the morning!

If you don’t try out, you’ll miss out. Then you’ll have to live the rest of your life wondering, What if? Don’t let the fear of failing keep you from trying.

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.

Valor is running toward trouble when everyone else is running away. Valor is going above and beyond the call of duty. Valor is putting yourself in the line of fire for someone

Don’t accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences.

When it comes to difficult circumstances, you have two choices. You can complain about them, or you can make the most of them.

First, give yourself a start date. And I’d highly recommend today! Second, give God an hour a day every day. It might mean getting up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later, but that’s how dreams become reality. Third, give yourself a deadline. Deadlines are lifelines. Without them nothing gets done.

Generally speaking, you are probably never going to be more than about 80 percent certain. Waiting for greater certainty may cause you to miss an opportunity. Depending upon your personality, no amount of information may move you past a particular degree of certainty.8

If you want to get better at any sport, you have to play with someone who is better than you are. In other words, you have to be willing to lose to win.

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do.”4

Coaching legend Vince Lombardi said something similar: “The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.”12

Pride is the first chapter in the book of failure. Humility is the first chapter in the book of success.

You’re going to meet an old man someday down the road—ten, thirty, fifty years from now—waiting there for you….That old man will be you. He’ll be the composite of everything you do, say, and think—today and tomorrow….His heart will be turning out what you’ve been putting into it. Every little thought, every deed goes into this old man. Every day in every way you are becoming more and more like yourself. Amazing but true. You’re beginning to look more like yourself, think more like yourself, and talk more like yourself. You’re becoming yourself more and more.