How to Chase Your Dreams

I am someone who LOVES to live in the world of possibility. The phrase “anything is possible” lights my spiritual self up. But… if I’m being honest, I’ve often let the term possibility be synonymous with delusion. Uh oh–where is she going with this?!

What am I willing to give up so that I can give myself up to the work that is required to make a certain career happen? Or to accomplish a certain life goal? Because the world of possibility is cool, yet it is our duty to narrow down the sheer infinity of possibility to the few things that we’ll be able to do with our lives.

First you need to cultivate discipline and practice and/or get unbelievably talented at your craft or your skill set.

You can have a natural knack for things, but I think having a knack puts someone at a disadvantage because they default to thinking they may not need as much work as others. To have your dream pay for your life, you do!

Yes, there are lucky circumstances where I could be singing karaoke and some record label person is there and is like wow, sign her now. But we all know that’s way too lucky to count on. If it’s my dream to be a musician, I must do the tedious labor of practicing until I am such a talented individual at my craft, that I can move up from shitty gigs to slightly better gigs to being a studio artist, etc.

Non-attachment is key as well. Because if it’s my goal to be the greatest guitarist alive, I have to know that there is literally one open seat for the job in the world and if even one more person is “better” than me, they get the seat. (I’m speaking simply here to get my point across, btw… don’t poke holes in my examples!)

The last thing is sensing when to make the next move to something bigger/better/different in a good way. If I keep performing for the same 10 people at some little dive bar for decades AND I dream of “making a career out of this”, then I only have myself to blame for not putting in the research or communication or education to figure out what’s next.

Discipline to Practice ➡️ Non-Attachment ➡️ Make Moves

Never make a move before you’re good enough. How do you know when you’re good enough? When you blow people’s minds with your talent. Never got to a point of blowing people’s minds? That’s ok. You’ve probably prioritized something else, maybe inadvertently. That’s what I meant at the beginning about chiseling the world of possibility down to the things you fill your time with.

If you spend 50% of your waking time scrolling, chatting, hanging out with the same crowd of people, 30% of your time eating/pooping/showering, and then like 20% practicing your craft… do you really think that’s enough to accomplish a life dream? Are you willing to give up some of the things you’re doing that take you away from your discipline?

Maybe you don’t have time or money to hone your craft. That’s when day-jobs come in. The type that you can appreciate for their simple goal of funding your practice. Hey–how can you accelerate your skills toward your dream career in a day-job that seems to have nothing to do with it? Hmm? How’s that for possibility?