Today I listened to a hard-hitting speech about the reality of big dreams… I want to open with that raw truth that most dreams never come true. It isn’t because people aren’t out there busting their ass and working hard. It’s not because they’re not well-meaning, or they’re not good at what they are doing. The simple reality that the things that you’re dreaming about, are hard as hell to accomplish. So big dreams take big actions, it’s just that simple. Your effort must match the size of your dreams or you need to prepare yourself that you will fall far short of your goals. if you want to accomplish them, let me tell you one thing right now, you cannot ever be passive. The truth is that for most people, passive is a way of life. The reality is if you want to be the greatest of all time, if you want to be better than everyone else, if you want to call yourself the best, you must dig in and out-work everyone. You’re going to have to go hard to make that a reality So hard that other people simply cannot fathom working that hard for anything in their life. The simple truth is that people simply cannot imagine trying to keep up with that, and so what they say, is that person must be extraordinary. That person is naturally talented, or that person has something that I don’t have, or lucky, or has more connections. The reality is they aren’t pushing themselves to ascend to that height.
Now…
Given that, I agree that we cannot all be Tom Brady. We can’t all be POTUS. Most of us have our big dreams beaten out of us by the time we hit junior high school. When a child says “I want to be astronaut” we smile and patronize them. But listen, did anyone fucking notice that there really are such things as astronauts? We have a space station in orbit around the planet… Remember that? The United States is planning on landing on the moon in the next decade and establishing a base on that same moon. Elon Musk has a plan to send a crewed mission to Mars… So if these things are reality, and humans dream of flying in space, then we could encourage those big dreams rather than patronizing them and treating their future plans as far fetched? There are world class athletes, high level politicians, champions, world record holders and a whole host of superior status human beings that anyone, and I mean anyone can ascend to become. So when big dreams creep into your consciousness, instead of dismissing them as unattainable, ask yourself “how hard am I willing to work?”
Now let’s drop down to the level where all of us can relate. Take me for example. I dream of playing music in front of an audience. I always have. Many of us have played air guitar to our favorite band and jumped around imagining the crowd singing along and loving us… Now I dreamed about this all my life and 25 years or so ago, I bought a guitar and I carried it with me for two and a half decades. Therein lies the problem, I carried it. I never progressed beyond some chords and some strum patterns. No lessons, np practice but my shower concerts never stopped. In my mind, I have been pulled out of the audience at lots of concerts and given a guitar to play while the lead singer is super impressed… Eddie Vedder often asks me to come back stage after the concert and we hang out and become close friends… Trouble is I don’t know any Pearl Jam songs… I can’t play barre chords which makes the possibility of me playing “Jeremy” in front a crowd at a shitty bar in Bumfuck, Arizona pretty much zero let alone in a sold out arena…
I have been proactive in my imagination and passive in my actions to make that dream happen. Big dreams require big effort. Now dreaming is fine and in fact, experts tell us that those big dreams are good for us. They make us feel good. I like feeling good, because feeling good makes me feel good… However, when I dream big, there is always that truthful admission that these things are not possible because I know, I’m simply not doing what I would have to do in order to make that happen… Not because I think that the 15 year old kid I see on YouTube who gets pulled out of the audience and she is playing while the audience screams in delight has any more talent than I do, she just worked way harder than I ever did… She dreamed big and she worked big… She loved the band, loved the music, focused her mind, took the time and her struggles became reality.
Now I am working my way towards that… It’s not automatic and it’s not immediate. My 90 Day Life Change Challenge includes guitar every day and even though I am truthfully not practicing enough, I am practicing daily, and I see so much progress. In 17 days, I have added to my chord list, know three riffs from my favorite songs and pretty much have progressed more in 17 days than I have in 25 years since I purchased the damn thing… Well, truthfully, this is my third guitar because very so often over the years, I got a better guitar to carry around with my and man, you should see the case I never need, it’s pretty sweet… I will never stop singing with Eddie in the shower, but I have adjusted my actions to meet my expectations. I will be a better player and someday I will sit and soulfully (at least soulfully for me…) play “Black” and secretly imagine Vedder is smiling somewhere because I finally did what I said I was going to do… Luckily for me though, not playing guitar like I planned doesn’t give me diabetes…
So take this away today for your arsenal… Figure out what you really want and adjust your actions to meet reality. If you dream about being thinner or heavier, adjust your eating habits to meet your expectations. If you dream about more education, binge watching an entire season of some shitty show you have already seen won’t help you do that. If you imagine running a marathon this summer, get off your couch…
Yes, you’re average… Hope you aren’t offended because that will just hold you back… No one slid out of their mother quoting poetry...In fact we all came down the chute confused, wet and screaming.. If you consider yourself above average, then you probably worked really hard since your emergence from your mom to attain that. All you had was interest and then drive to learn because you discovered you liked it. You see, average has the tools to become extraordinary… Every single person reading this has the ability to excel at whatever they want. Me? Well I will probably never play at Lollapalooza on the main stage but someday, very soon, I will be one helluva guitar player…
Now, how I am going to do that?
Easy… I'm going to play until my fingers obey my commands...
Take a second, clear your schedule for 3 minutes and I am going to give you some advice that can change your perspective.
If I say, “I’m going to be a rock star!” then I am making a statement that is a goal. Goals are great, don’t get me wrong but “I’m going to be a rock star” is kinda like saying “Someday. I’m going to see the Mona Lisa in person…” It has the enthusiasm, however it lacks two things… Planning and focus….
So here is a little secret for you…
Reframe “I’m going to be a rock star” to “What do I need to do to become the best guitar player I can be?”
See what I did there? One is a statement that has no clear path to get to the goal and one is a question that has a path that leads to multiple outcomes.
Make your goals achievable by reframing your statements to make questions out of them. Want to see the Mona Lisa, first ask yourself where it is, get your passport, save the money, buy the tickets, plan out your trip, get on the plane, etc… Then you will be standing in the Louvre Museum in Paris looking at The Mona Lisa… You didn’t make a claim, you made a fucking plan. Fuck, you may as well go see the Eiffel Tower too; it’s in the same town…
So today review your goals and ask yourself that fatal question… “What do I need to do to make these happen?
Then get obsessed…
Have a great day!
Love ya! Truly mean it!
Today was tough but I ended up with 104 pull-ups and 252 push-ups in 60 minutes, a 2 1/2 minute plank, meditation and a little writing all before work... Good day... I will finish up the little stuff throughout the day and tonight I'm gonna make that guitar do my bidding... Thant's my plan anyway....
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