"At some point, everything's gonna go south on you and you're going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work."

- Matt Damon, The Martian

As part of my plan to stop focusing on myself and start focusing on others, I took my girlfriend to see The Martian last night.

To those who haven't seen the movie, Matt Damon's character is left stranded on Mars for over a year and needs to fight for his survival. 

When he first realizes he is stranded, you the see the character make the choice he mentions in the quote - accept his death, or work for his life. 

He chose to work for his life.

Obviously this is just a fictional story, but it was perfect for me to see right now. There are TONs of people in my position, who are raising the funds to reach their dreams. 

But it is very clear who has accepted failure...and who is willing to fight for survival. 

THE VICTIM MENTALITY

Like I planned, I started reaching out to more people, more forums, and more media outlets with my story.

I wanted to share how I'm using the science of willpower, my big epiphany about not waiting for help, but rather being the one to help, etc...and how the that has helped The Will of Heroes get back on track toward reaching our goal. 

I also included a note that I would be happy to check out any projects that others sent me, then back and share them if I genuinely believed in them. 

Most of the responses were from people like me, but they had a victim mentality. 

They believed they just had bad luck and saw me as the "silver bullet" who could turn that around. So when I provided feedback (because their projects really needed improvement) they didn't listen. They accepted their fate.

THE SURVIVOR MENTALITY

But, there were some who took my story to heart and got right to work! 

Like me, they saw their timeline coming to an end, but they didn't give up hope. So they even started suggesting other ideas to help me improve and help both of our dreams survive. 

Now we are working together! We are bouncing ideas off of one another and, as an added bonus, because we are choosing to fight, we are learning from the experience. So even if we fail, we will come out stronger for the next time. 

Meanwhile, the victim is simply blaming the outside world for not "getting" his project.

Or he is blaming himself for "not being good enough" - which is hardly an actionable lesson. 

CONCLUSION

It's easy to be the victim.It doesn't take creativity, hard work, or venturing outside of your comfort zone!

So many people choose to feel sorry for themselves, rather than fight to survive. 

Although it is entirely fiction, The Martian was the perfect movie to teach me that lesson and give me the extra motivation to BE A SURVIVOR.

Who would have thought that would come by simply trying to do something nice for my insanely supportive girlfriend?

RESULTS:

• What we needed today to reach our goal: $419
• What we raised today from 7 backers: $405
• Key learning: Fight until the last second of the campaign.
• Key takeaway for tomorrow: Explore more ideas that push my comfort zone.

It's do or die time!