Have you ever wanted to do or start or create something new? Did you do it? Or did something always come up and you said to yourself I will do this next week or next month or when I have more money or time or this event happens? Are you afraid that you might succeed or fail?
When I started writing this blog, I was almost embarrassed by the number of people around me that were surprised I had started it. I wondered if I had a reputation of not doing or completing anything but many of the people who expressed surprise did not know me well enough to know that about me either way. Several people said they wanted to write a blog and just hadn’t done it yet. Other people said there were projects or businesses they wanted to take on and hadn’t yet.
It occurred to me that there is a disconnect between what people want to do and what they actually do, which includes the way they spend their time. When I listen to motivational speakers they all say, where do you see yourself in 5 years or 10 years with this specific goal? I think they are probably trying to see if you understand yourself as a person and your strengths and weaknesses in taking on your project.
Do we let our day to day lives take precedence over our long-term goals? Of course we do. We work, pay bills, go grocery shopping, etc. But there is no reason we can’t do both and include our vision of where we want to be in 5 or 10 years and work towards that too. If you don’t, you will be 5 or 10 years older and no closer to your goal than you are now.
Obviously, you first have to determine the goal(s). You probably already know your goal because you think about it perhaps as a vague idea. So if you visualize your goals then you also probably have an idea of how to approach it and steps to take. There are tons of materials about precise steps and timelines to follow that you can reference.
On many projects I have been involved in, when I started I may not have known what I was doing or the rules or specifics or technical knowledge of what I was doing. But I became aware of one overriding principle. And that is to Just Show Up. Just by being in a specific location of the project, with your presence and energy, you are indicating both to yourself and people around you that you are involved or supportive or committed. The corollary to that is to Just Do It. If you show up and then start doing, you will get somewhere. You can always refine the action or focus or goal as you learn more.
Every journey starts with one step. (You have heard this before and you know it is true.)
So challenge yourself to ask yourself what is holding you back from what you want to do. Just the process of taking the first step makes a difference in the way you feel about yourself, and advances your goal, which you can always modify as you go, not that it will ever be smooth sailing. But think on this, you are a creative person limited only by your own vision and choices. So what are you waiting for?
Finding the good in all things…
Celeste
Silver Lining Musings by Celeste 