By Jorge Hernández Rodríguez
05/23/2021
“[I]n nooks all over the earth sit men who are waiting, scarcely knowing in what way they are waiting, much less that they are waiting in vain. Occasionally the call that awakens-that accident which gives permission to act- comes to late, when the best youth and strength for action has already been used up by sitting still; and many have found to their horror when ‘they leaped up’ that their limbs had gone to sleep and their spirit had become to heavy. ‘It is to late’, they said to themselves, having lost their faith in themselves and henceforth forever useless.”
―Friedrich Nietzsche
What do you think about the above referenced quote written by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche? Spooky, isn’t it? Many times we wait for the perfect moment to occur… just the perfect moment… that will justify the will to act. Only to realize it was too late, living what little is left from life with regrets… dying with regrets…
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that for my life. How many times did we left aside a goal, a dream, just by the mere fact that we were waiting for the perfect moment? How many excuses we have told ourselves, only because we were waiting for the perfect moment? THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE PERFECT MOMENT. The moment to begin, to start accomplishing our goals/dreams is NOW. I’m going to share with you 4 tips that helped me take the First Step: to start working towards my goals and dreams.
Are we ready? Let’s go!
1. What are your goals?
Write in a piece of paper the goals/dreams you want to accomplish. Writing them in paper will help you visualize it better; after all, you will actuality see them instead of just relying on good old memory. You can list them as they come or list them in order of priority. However, I want you to take your time, do not hurry yourself.
Once finished, place the piece of paper somewhere you can see it every day (kitchen fridge, office desk, bathroom, etc.) Why? Because it will remind you of them. Try it, it worked for me.
2. Determine if your goals are Important to you
Congratulations! You wrote your goals!
Now, I want you to state and affirm your goals/dreams as Important to you. Important means to commit yourself in making everything possible in conquering those goals…conquering those dreams. Important as if giving yourself the permission in recognizing there is no such thing as the perfect moment; the will to act depends on the now… depends all on you.
If you continue giving yourself excuses, then the goals are not Important to you.
One of my many goals I wrote in my piece of paper was to compose, record and publish my first piano solo album. I considered it Important and promised myself to make everything possible in accomplish it. In the times I felt in giving up, I wrote on that same paper the following statement and repeated it out loud to myself:
I (write your name) state my goals as Important. I commit myself to make everything possible to conquer my goals. I give myself the permission to recognize that the perfect moment does not exist, the moment to act… the will to act is NOW.
State your goals/dreams as Important NOW.
3. “How can I make it happen?” instead of saying “I Don’t Know”.
Awesome! You identified and wrote your goals and declared them as Important! I’m proud of you!
Most of the time we incorporate excuses starting with “I don’t”. Let’s suppose for a moment that one of those excuses is “I don’t have time” (that and “I’m not ready” were the ones I constantly used; guilty as charged!). Instead of saying “I don’t have time”, say “How can I make/accommodate more time to begin working on my goals/dreams?” As you can see, the latter statement is more proactive than the former. You are wiring your thinking in how you are going to make it work. At the same time, you acknowledge that you are accountable… you admit you are responsible in finding the way to resolve that excuse that inhibits you and make way to start working on your goals/dreams. Make sense?
Let’s do the following exercise:
In a piece of paper (not the piece of paper again!), I want you to write all the excuses you have said to yourself, that “held” you back in conquering your goals/dreams. Then to the at the right side of such excuse, you are going to write the proactive version on how you are going make it happen. You can do something like this:
| Excuses | Proactive Statement |
| I don’t have time | How can I make the time? |
| I don’t know how to begin | How can I begin? |
| I don’t have the knowledge | Where can I find the information? |
| I’m not ready | How can I prepare myself to be ready? |
4. When in doubt, seek support.
There will come times of doubt, where we will feel lost. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who went through situations like yours. I recommend you the following alternatives that, as of today, continues to get me through when I feel lost:
a) Search information of people/public figures who accomplished their goals, and learn from their experiences, victories, and defeats.
When I have doubts regarding my musical journey, I search videos, books, articles from my favorite composers/musicians, and learn from their experiences, their stories. Since the situations they faced are similar to mine, and knowing they were able to get through, it gives me the strength to go on, to continue conquering my goals/dreams, and incorporate/apply their knowledge into my life.
b) Surround yourself with positive and proactive people.
Surrounding yourself with people that have positive and proactive attitude will stimulate, motivate, and inspire you to continue working your goals/dreams. They can also provide you with support when you are down, wisdom when you are lost and help you see your strengths even when you don’t.
Whereas negative people will always remain stuck and convinced that there are no alternatives and require an “accident” to justify an action, the will to act; they will always have an excuse. Avoid them at all cost.
These were the 4 steps that I took when I embarked on my musical journey and project. As of today, I still use them. When you take the First Step, nothing will ever stop you... nobody will ever stop you. The only thing standing in your way is yourself. What are you waiting for? Take action and make your goals/dreams come true right now, starting today! If you found value in this article and believe it could benefit others, please share it. Click on the "Share" button below and share the link on your social media platform.
Stand up, head held high, always moving forward! I believe in you! You can do it!
