Amidst my travels, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life. One consistent thing I hear is people’s admiration for me pursuing what I love, and truly living life by my own rules. From, “I wish I could do what I love” to “you’re so lucky!” Which of course causes me to turn the conversation towards them. “Well, why can’t you do what you love? What’s stopping you?” And without fail, an excuse follows.
Now when I say excuse, I don’t necessarily mean something invalid. I hear a bunch of understandable reasons! From parents judgement, to loans, to children, you name it! But then that brings me to the question, “you don’t think someone with those things has ever done what they love?” And follows the response of “well…yeah I’m sure they have BUT…” and another excuse follows.
As this conversation continues, it becomes evident that it’s not as much these obligations as much as it is fear. Most of us are afraid! We are afraid of; failure, the unknown, the judgment of our peers, the hard work, and all sorts of other stuff. That is the root! We are afraid! But that is okay! I’ll be damned if not everyone who has ever accomplished anything has been afraid at one point or another. If we aren’t afraid, we aren’t aiming high enough!
“Okay, so im afraid…thank you for pointing that out. But what the fuck do I do about that?” you ask.
Now it is time to address our fears. We must really sit down and address the fear within ourselves. Why are we afraid? What are we afraid of? Are our fears valid? How do we minimize these fears?
Those first couple questions I can’t answer for you, but how to minimize those fears? That I can help with! Take it one step at a time. Don’t rush yourself into the process. Rome wasn’t built in a day! Things that are truly worth it take time, energy, and an absurd amount of patience. You are not going to be a professional in just one day, but you will be that much closer to being a professional. You must visualize your end goal and then work your way backwards. I’ll give you a good example here!
So about a year ago, I decided I wanted to make music. Having ZERO knowledge about the technical side of making music, but I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be on stage performing to thousands over songs that I produced and wrote. So now that I have my end goal, what the hell do I have to do to get there? I realized from a production standpoint, I’ll need to understand melodies and how a song goes together. The structure of the song if I may! Upon doing some research, I found out music theory is essentially the key to melody and good song structure so I then realized I need to learn music theory. I then began to look into music theory and break it down into different components, from scales, to chords, then to progrssions, etc! So now I had a loose grasp on what I needed to know to begin as a producer and I started to delve into all of these concepts! And then I began to do the exact same thing from a writers standpoint! All while studying modern day pieces and seeing what made them pleasing to the ear.
In other words, I became a student of music! I immersed myself in it. I began to eat sleep and breathe music, and that’s what must be done! You must train your mind to think in the field you’re going into! Which sounds scary, but it’s as simple as surrounding yourself with it constantly.
The key is to take it one step at a time! Set little milestones and work towards them! Don’t get concerned with the end goal because you will never feel like you’re making progress, but if you make small little goals, you will truly see the progression!
Now it is up to you! Face those fears head on, but at your own pace! Show yourself what you’re truly made of!
I believe in you damnit!
Grant
Don’t Lift With Your Back 