Imagine for a minute that you could borrow Michael J Fox’s DeLorean and travel to the future to talk to himself at the end of his career. What advice would you give yourself? More importantly, how would that experience affect the decisions you are currently making? Would you do something different today to alter the course of your life?

Helping people see that their future is in their own hands, as a direct result of the decisions they make today, has always been a challenge. In the 1980s, a program aimed at empowering troubled youth succeeded in showing them what the future would surely hold if they continued down their current path of lawlessness and disrespect. These children were “very scared” after spending a few hours in a prison experiencing the terrifying and brutal conditions that awaited them. There is nothing more convincing than the voice of experience.

Being in the field of education for most of my life, I have been surrounded by teenagers. I have often wondered if the flames of nonconformity and entrepreneurship that burn in most young people would be fanned by a glimpse into the future life of the ‘average worker’. I think staring into the vacant eyes of those who no longer question and the gray skin of someone who has traded natural sunlight for a fluorescent-lit cubicle would make anyone think twice before accepting the mediocrity that awaits them in the corporate world.

Everyone starts out with visions of living their best life. Listening to someone who has lost all passion can make you cling to your dreams and fight to make them come true. Talk to a successful network marketer and they will tell you how they work harder than ever, because they are finally in control of creating a spectacular future for their family.

Observing the security of being chained to a desk by your boss would definitely make the freedom of network marketing outweigh the risks of failure or even ridicule. As an independent distributor, you have the freedom to build your business how, when and where you choose. I used to leave for work before my family woke up and drive through the snowy darkness to my office. Now my wife and I work our business around our children’s schedules from sunny Florida beaches. I used to gaze at the beauty of the sunrise only from my office window. Now, we see our beautiful children rise with the sun and seize the possibilities of a new day.

Once you realize that you have spent many of your best years working hard to make someone else’s dreams come true at the expense of your own forgotten aspirations, you will likely regret it.

The good news is that it is not too late. The fact that you are reading this today is proof that you still have the spark to create the life you have envisioned. Choose to live an extraordinary life. Reject the false notion that corporate America will bring you financial and emotional security. Choose instead to be scared outright, blaze your own trail, and write your own story through the power of network marketing.