Right Here, Right Now
There are a lot of unhappy people in the world. This seems counter-intuitive when we consider how much money we all make and how much free time we have when compared with earlier generations. Theoretically at least, we should have more resources at our disposal for realizing our dreams and for becoming the people we’ve always dreamed of being. Why do our secret desires and childhood goals seem so unattainable that we can’t even consider them without snorting or sneering? What if I told you that I would help you reach those goals without charging you even a penny?
While working through a motivational article over at Spark People, I came across a rather poignant statement about the true importance of accomplishing our personal goals.
You might not want to change the world, but you do want to change your world.
How often do we trivialize ourselves right out of the tools we need to accomplish our goals? Heck, how often do we trivialize our own goals by elevating the importance of other people’s goals.
- “Oh, I don’t need to buy the expensive art supplies. I’ll use the cheap ones.”
- “This project is really complex. I don’t have the energy to take it on.”
- “I don’t have time to write. I’ve got too much work already.”
Every action you take is the most important action in your life. The past is beyond our control. The future can never be interacted with directly. All we have is the moment in front of us right now, and any action you take is by necessity happening in the only moment you have at your disposal. Right now, there are at least a dozen other things you could be doing, and yet you chose to do what you’re doing right now. If something is that important, don’t you want to do it as best as you possibly can?
Think for a moment about one of your most ardent desires or your most “impossible” dream. Indulge me for a moment and really visualize what fulfilling that desire would look like, feel like, and be like. If you have trouble freeing your creative mind to imagine, try thinking with a pencil in your hand. Make a bulleted list of things you see or think of. Sketch out a diagram or a representation of what you see. Really picture it in your mind.
Now with that vision in mind, let your mind naturally fill in the gaps between where you are now and the success you’ve just imagined. Write these gaps and tasks down as you think of them. Nothing is too trivial. Don’t stop to consider possibility. Don’t stop to consider responsibility. Don’t censor yourself. It’s okay to think about challenges to achieving your goal because challenges are just gaps you can fill in with research, action, and planning, but don’t fall into the “oh-I-could-never” emo pit of despair. Remember, you’re doing this for me. Indulge me just this once.
Have a better idea where you need to go? Does the dream still seem just as impossible? See that list in front of you? Now pull the fucking trigger. No excuses. No procrastination. No hiding behind the convenient lies we tell ourselves to keep us trapped in someone else’s life. Take something off that list and do it. If you need to get rid of some obligation in order to do so, start with the unnecessary crap that you hate to do but convince yourself that you have to do. Send a polite email to whoever would be affected and cancel that obligation right now to work on this dream that was central enough to who you are that it popped to your mind when an anonymous blogger on the Internet asked you to dream big.
This is just one dream, one piece of who you really want to be. Becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be is as simple as mining for more of these dreams deep within yourself and completing this process for each one of them. You can do this, and frankly, if you want to feel happy and fulfilled, you must do this. The key to happiness and satisfaction with our lives centers around indulging these desires instead of repressing them. You’ve been given this inspiration for a reason. Do something with it, and stop hiding your proverbial light under a bush.