So often it happens that we put off doing what we most want to do in life because we’re afraid that we’re not good enough to pull it off; we’re afraid that the road to success will be more than we can handle, or that we’ll never even be able to find that elusive path to begin with. And so our biggest dreams get pushed onto a shelf and left there to collect dust because of a false belief that we don’t have what it takes to make those dreams happen.
The sad thing is that, for most of those dreams, if we just got started and kept plugging away at it, they would, in fact, become a reality. If we weren’t so paranoid about taking that first step when we couldn’t see the entire path mapped out before us. If we weren’t so scared of looking like an idiot if we messed up. If we weren’t so convinced that everything had to be done exactly right out of the gate that we panicked over the thought of starting it at all.
And that’s the big thing. That horrible sense of perfectionism that makes us think that the only way our dreams will work is if we know exactly how they’re going to happen at every step. We look at the people who have already achieved what we want to achieve and we are hit with a sense of awe… “who am I to think that I could ever do what she did?”… “I could never be that successful.”… “I have no idea what I’m even doing!”
We assume that the ones we see as successful knew what they were doing from the start and took a direct route to the top, stepping from phenomenal one success to another. We assume they always knew exactly what they were doing at every moment, at every step of the journey. But I suspect that the reality is probably quite different. I suspect that most of those successful people we see out there had their own moments of doubt; their own moments of confusion; their own moments of panic and wondering “what the hell am I doing?”
I suspect that the road to success looks less like a straight line and more like a circuitous path of ups and downs. But I also think that the one thing that distinguishes those who succeed in making their dreams a reality from those who don’t is tenacity: the determination to stick with it until it’s done. I think success is a matter of trying different approaches to achieving your goals. If one approach doesn’t work, then you analyze what went wrong and try again with a different tactic. You learn as much as you can from every failure so that your next attempt will work better. Eventually you figure it out and get to where you want to be.
But the secret is in making those attempts in the first place. You can choose the safe route and not try to build your dreams at all. And you’ll live more or less the same kind of life that everyone else does. Or you can choose the alternate route, take some chances, and maybe create everything that you’ve ever wanted.
Life is not a dress rehearsal. If you don’t believe in reincarnation, this is the ONLY life you will ever get to live, and this is all the time you get in which to do everything you’ve ever wanted to do. If you do believe in reincarnation, then this is only time you will ever experience this particular incarnation. Either way, this experience of life that you are having right now is completely unique.
So don’t waste it.
Go out there and be awesome. Create your own road to success and start building your dreams…
photo credit: pixabay.com cc
