A wise person once said that we should watch what we dream for-we may get exactly that! So what will you do once you get that prize, place that cut with a major artist, or get that studio finished you've been working on for years? Here, again, planning ahead will get you where you want to go, using small enough steps for you to handle, even if your head is still spinning from the shock of making your latest goal. Here are some good ideas to help you handle the situations.
WRITE IT DOWN!
Many of the big names in motivation tell you to keep a journal of what you want to do, and write it down in every detail. Some people take pictures and glue them onto large sheets of board to create a collage they can keep on their wall, pin items to a special bulletin board, cut and paste them onto a .bmp they can use as their desktop on their computer, keep a journal, or just type it all into files they keep on their computer desktop for easy access when they are working and get an inspiration. I do a combination of all of these, and try to keep them in easy-access places so I am forced to run across them many times every day. It's said that if you repeat something to yourself 20 times a day, you will do that thing, simply because you refocus your attention upon it and do at least one small thing to get yourself where you want to go. Some people even find it helpful to make a list of 20 things every day they HAVE done-you will be surprised how easy this is, since chances are you are doing a lot all the time, but need to be reminded just how great a job you are doing to keep the momentum going. I don't care if it is just writing one sentence of your acceptance speech for an Academy Award for best song-you can do that one small bit, and, yes, it counts. Tough to get that award if you can't see yourself getting it, so make sure you are prepared!
KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!
Doubts can be the kiss of death for any goal. Sometimes it is just a matter of brainstorming and networking to find out all the possible paths, and give yourself several options so you can change plans if need be, or create new hybrid ideas as you go along. It's perfectly okay to change how you get something done, or even decide you don't want to do something if you have found something you should do instead. You may discover that you just wanted to write, not sing, so why not just write? Sure, you can continue to work on improving your craft, but if your heart isn't in what you are doing, and you don't feel joy just working on it, then maybe you need to look at what does make you enthused and work on that, instead. It's fine to work in some of those unpleasant things if you KNOW you really need to, but first, make sure you realize that you CAN do that thing, and that it will be great for what you want to do if you can just gut it out through the discomfort and feel the thrill of now being able to better reach your goals. For example, if you know you need to learn guitar scales, and your fingers get really sore all the time practicing, cut down on minutes practiced and maybe just make more short practices each day, and just push yourself to do 5 minutes more each practice, then pat yourself on the back for having done that, not feel guilty not doing more. It is all a matter of seeing things in a good light, seeing how far you have gone, not dwelling on how far it is to your finish line. One step at a time, you will get there, eventually if you just keep going. Resting a lot is just fine-you will still get there, and probably in a much better frame of mind.
