Dream Like It’s Your Job
So you want to be a doctor? Or maybe an artist? Or do you want to run that first marathon or ultramarathon? Make VP? Make P? Or make your kid pee… in the potty? Whatever it is you want to do, I hope you're not creating excuses like I am.
This past year, I decided I wanted to be an author. Well, not exactly. I decided when I was in the first grade and had a poem published. That's the first time I remember writing creatively and loving it. What happened this past year was that I started to say it out loud and tell everyone in my life about it. So now, there shouldn't be any excuses not to do it and yet, here I am, making them. At first, my excuses were legit. I really didn't have a lot of time, I really was tired, and I really only had the ability to write a few hours a week. But now… I’m in between jobs and I have more free time than I have ever had in my life but I am throwing away moments to write. Instead of sitting down and just doing it, I make unnecessary plans. Sure, meeting my friend for coffee is fun and important, but so is writing. I need to carve it out like it's my job and take it seriously like it's my job because it’s just as important.
This morning, I realized just how much I have been throwing away. I was up at 5:15 because I am doing some contracting work and had a virtual session at 5:30am. When I finished up at 6, I had two hours until the next session. Fortunately, because I went to bed at 9pm last night, I was up and awake and my "nap" excuse was nowhere to be found. So I decided to get my coffee, get a good book, and see what happens.
What happened, was my mind actually started to think. I started to have ideas pop into my head for writing and I'd get out my phone and record all my thoughts quickly in a voice memo (to which I will listen to and write out and edit later). As I was in the middle of my third voice memo, I realized how creative I had been. I had gotten so much done in under an hour that it makes it that much more apparent how much of my dream I am throwing away every hour that I don't sit down and write.
I read in the news earlier on that a woman knitted a full suit out of Wegman's bags. Yes, you heard me right, plastic shopping bags. A shopping bag suit doesn’t just happen. That takes some serious discipline. When I read the article I learned that the idea came to her after seeing somebody's purse made out of repurposed plastic. She thought it was an interesting idea. That interesting idea turned into research and it would have stayed research, it would have stayed just an idea, if she hadn't blocked out time to make it happen. Finishing, was a decision, and she made it. It only took her two months! I've been working on a cross stitch for two years, and still it sits unfinished. Not even unfinished - it's barely started.
Don't let your ideas just stay ideas. Don't let your dreams stay stuck on the bottom shelf with my cross-stich. Whether you want to turn your shopping bag suit business into a career, or you're just doing it for kicks, if you ever want to see it come to fruition you need to create the space for it. Get past your googling and your thoughts and just talking about it and start putting it into action. Dream like it's your job.
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