Tag: Prioritize your dreams

Not Doesn’t Mean Can’t

“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant.”

Samuel Johnson

Just because you are not doing something you wish you were doing (like starting a business, training for a marathon. learning to sew. starting a YouTube Channel or getting up early) doesn’t mean you can’t.

I’m a strong believer that anyone can learn anything and become great at it if you want to.

But first, you need to get figure out what’s holding you back from starting. Two likely reasons you aren’t doing what you want to do are 1. Priority and 2. Fear.

Reason # 1: Priority

We all have the same amount of time each day. Where is your time going? And, more Succinctly, what are you prioritizing in your life?

Let’s say we get 8 hours of sleep each night, spend 8 hours working and spend another 3 or 4 eating, commuting and spending time with people closest to us. That’s still 4 hours give or take left in the day. Where are we using them?

Are we doing something nourishing? Or just killing time until tomorrow when groundhog starts over again?

Priority is choosing dreams over comfort. It’s putting in a little effort to be creative even when you don’t feel like it.

It’s uncomfortable to sit down at the end of the day to write a blog post, sketch, and work on music. Not that it’s supposed to feel hard and like work to be worthwhile — but it’s not easy. But you get a helluva lot of joy and fulfillment when you prioritize what matters to you.

Reason #2: Fear

If you’ve got all the time in the world and you’re still not doing what you dream about doing, then fear is likely lurking around.

Fear wears many masks:

  • The mask of being too old.
  • The mask of not being experienced enough yet.
  • The mask of doing it wrong and embarrassing yourself.
  • The mask of past failures.
  • The mask of other people’s opinions.

Maybe you’re wearing the mask of embarrassment, or maybe you’re wearing all the above.

There’s no one path to getting past our fears, but the key is not taking yourself too seriously. When things get too serious, we tend to want to quit. If you grew up taking music lessons or playing a sport, you know exactly what I mean. The moment it starts to become repetitive music scales, endless ball canons and game politics and less about having fun with your friends and playing final fantasy and Taylor Swift on the piano the less we want to do it. All work and no play – immediate desire to quit.

The same applies when we are looping theses unmet dreams over and over in our heads. By the time we actually might take the trap and try, we’ve already psyched ourselves out by being too serious to start.

But if you can make it low pressure and low stakes, the more breathing room you’ll have just to pick up your phone and start recording or throw on your shoes and go for a walk.

That’s why side-business work so well psychologically compared to jumping fully into your venture. There’s less pressure. You aren’t betting the farm if you’re idea cow goes tits up.

Takeaways:

  • Audit your time. Where are you currently spending your free time?
  • Prioritize one thing you want to start doing.
  • Make it something you find fun and fulfilling.
  • Don’t take yourself too seriously. Take the pressure of doing it perfectly the first time off the table
  • Learn to enjoy and appreciate trying something new and being a beginner (most don’).
  • Try making it a daily habit. Commit to a little each day, rain or shine.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #864

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Becoming Your Own Person

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

Mary Oliver, Poet

We are born (literally) surrounded by others. Parents, doctors, foster parents, siblings, relatives, godmothers. We spend our early years like a sponge — absorbing everything we see, touch, smell, feel. We learn to enjoy the company of good friends (and good books 😉 ) and become immersed in the world we experience through ourselves.

Naturally, we adopt the traits and characteristics of people and culture surrounding us. Sometimes we take in good things, like treating others like we want to be treated, listening during conversation, smiling (with teeth showing) when passing someone on the street. And sometimes we take in not so great things, or things we don’t understand but file away in our minds as characteristics that get us what we want, or negative traits of the world around us, such as learning that money is something to be fought over, quitting early gets us out of fear or laziness, or worrying about everything.

We adopt the traits and characteristics of people and culture surrounding us.

And then we get older. We become more independent. We grow into someone with likes, hobbies and dreams. Various curiosities catch our eye, like learning Ju Jitsu, dance or wakeboarding. Our mind physically matures. Our body goes through things. We gravitate towards things we are good at, and avoid like the plague things we aren’t hot in. We fall in love. We get crushed. We fall in love again. We rebel. We dye our hair black and grow it long. We wear spiked belts and ironic necklaces. We break bones skating, or fall off a trampoline and hurt our back.

Yet, through it all, we still carry the characteristics (good and bad) that we learned in childhood. I am my own person, but I’m also the accumulation of lot of others too. The people we surround ourselves rub off on us. Their hopes and dreams become part of our own hopes and dreams. Their likes become our likes. Their dislikes, ours too.

And the key question to remember and challenge yourself with is this:

“Am I doing this because I want to, or because someone else wants me too?”

Are you enjoy X because you enjoy it, or because someone is pushing you too? Are you working at _ company out of interest and curiosity, or because your boss or your family is telling you too? Are you doing this because you want to, or are you doing this because you feel like you have to?

Some forces are universal, like retirement funds and compound interest, and are probably not going to change anytime soon. Other things are moving so quickly they’re likely already changed by the end of the day. But at the end of the day, we get to choose who we want to be.

We get to choose the kind of person we want to be.

Right now. This very second can be your chance to change and become the person you wish you would be.

Becoming your own person starts by not being everyone else. Through success, failure, feast or famine, we get to decide what we do, say and be in this life. And not do.

So, what kind of person do you want to be?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #784

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Are you taking your dreams seriously?

People treat you the way you treat yourself.

How you think, talk, emote, dress, eat, and act determines how people respond to you.

When you act like a goob, people are going to treat you like a goob. 

What brought this on? 

I’ve been thinking about / wonder whether or not people (especially people I️ know) take me seriously. Take me serious about what I️ know, what I’m doing, and what I️ want to accomplish.

These thoughtful questions lead me to an even harder question to answer:

Am I️ taking myself seriously?
…

Am I️ putting in the belief, time, effort, challenge and blood, sweat, commitment and tears necessary to take my goals seriously?

Am I️ taking this blog seriously? Am I️ taking my writing practice, desire to be a fiction and nonfiction author seriously?

Am I️ taking my songs seriously? Do I️ practice my guitar, vocals, piano and song crafting as seriously as someone who is a professional?

Am I️ taking my business seriously enough? My work, relationships, health (and health problems)?

Am I️ taking my life seriously??! We treat death like a far-off event, but in reality, I­t­ could happen to any of us at any moment. If I️ got hit by a bus today, would I️ feel accomplished and satisfied with the life I️ led?

Maybe its just my tween-age angst talking, but I️ don’t think so. I’ve got a lot I️ dream about, and very little precious time to give to make I­t­ happen.

When I️ say being serious, I’m not talking about being the kind of person were you suck all the fun out of everything and beat your head against a wall until everything is perfect. (Fun-suckers)

I️ mean taking my mission and dreams seriously.

I mean talking, thinking, and squeezing out everything I️ got to make my dreams happen, despite the fears and challenges that life brings.

If you’re like me, then it’s time to put down the cookies and make a change.

Your dreams — be that building interplanetary rocket ships, winning the Nobel laureate, or simply starting a blog — don’t work if you only give half *ssed work. You have to give all of yourself to make them happen. 

Grab a piece of paper and write down a commitment to change. Create a promise to yourself that you will keep pursuing your dreams no matter what. Take what you what most out of this life seriously, and go find a way to make I­t­ reality.

Stay BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner

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Related Insights

“God will not place a burden on a man’s shoulders knowing that he cannot carry it.” — Muhammad Ali

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” — Tony Robbins

“If your mom asks you to do the dishes, do not pull out your pirate attitude. But if someone tells you you’re not good enough, says your dreams are too lofty, or claims there is no room in showbiz for a dancing violinist – well then, by all means, pull out your eye patch, my friend, and take to the high seas.” — Lindsey Stirling

Priority of Day

Are you lashing onto what others think is important or are you sticking with your own priorities?

I was having trouble prioritizing what’s most important to me. On paper, everything felt like a priority. I could picture all these future versions of myself, but being so far from those realities what do you prioritize?

Do I choose music or writing? Entrepreneurship or art? Speaking or programming? Is it possible to choose them all?

Here’s the secret:

Priorities are what you spend your daily time on.

So does your daily priorities align with your future self? 

Dreams stay in your head unless you’re working towards them consistently, day in day out.

Visualize where you want to be, then take small moments towards that vision.

If you are already pushing yourself to the limit and have 0 time to spare, then you probably shouldn’t be adding more to your plate. Too much food piled on a plate is eventually going to fall down. Knowing when to say yes, when to say no and when to say not right now is directly related to how much progress you’ll make on your priorities. If you end up having no time to spare yet you’re focusing NO time on your priorities, do what you can to slowly remove todos from your plate.

When the desire doesn’t align with the execution, your priorities are out of alignment.

Desiring to be healthy yet eating unhealthy day after day.

Saying yes to todos instantly without a whim of consideration devalues your time and wipes away your ability to prioritize.

Know your goals and your compatibility. Know who you are and where you want to be. And then compare notes to what you spend your day on.

Study a day in your life and your actions will tell you what’s a priority or not.

StayBOLD, Keep Pursuing,

— Josh Waggoner

Related Insights

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” — Stephen Covey

“Action expresses priorities.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Our life is the sum total of all the decisions we make every day, and those decisions are determined by our priorities.” —  Myles Munroe

Focus In

Focus means giving our attention to something.

Whether that attention is undivided determine how well we’ll do.

We all have many things we must / want to do, but trying to do them all at once doesn’t lead to progress.

We must give our full attention to the task at hand.

Dedicate 100% of your focus to what you’re doing, within the time you have given

— focus in. 

Success is a string of tasks and trials we’ve given our full attention to. We succeed because we focus.

 

By focusing in,

we narrow our perspective

and give time and energy to cultivate each priority.

 

Picture yourself as a master juggler.

You can juggle many things, but each must pass within your hands, one at a time.

People create the illusion of doing many things, but in actuality they’re giving all of their focus on one thing at a time. 

Focus in towards a better you. You’ll find your brilliance.

related

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates

#KeepPursuing,
xoxo Josh Waggoner

‘Brevity is the soul of wit.’  Email me your thoughts on this post. Can you reduce the essential idea further?

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Priority

Focus on getting the right stuff done, rather than just getting things done.

Getting things done doesn’t mean we’re making progress on our dreams.

‘Things’ can be anything and everything, and can take us in every direction except the direction we want.

Priority starts with deciding what your right stuff is. It’s a choice you make, and is something you have to put above everything else you do.

 

Brilliance and achievement require priority, and everything we do (and want to do) is not on the same level of importance — it can’t be.

If we want brilliance, we have to prioritize our life towards creating it.

related

“Action expresses priorities” — Gandhi

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” — Stephen Covey

#KeepPursuing,
xoxo Josh Waggoner

‘Brevity is the soul of wit.’  Email me your thoughts on this post. Can you reduce the essential idea further?

Donate