Take Risks. Failure Is Good.
Risks fail hard or they succeed big. That’s a good thing. Great art is often polarizing. People love it or they hate it. Either way, it makes an impact by forcing them to feel something. That’s so much better than having them walk away from your art and just go, “Meh.”
Look ahead at the big picture of your career. If you know in your heart of hearts that no matter what, you will not allow yourself to fail in the grand scheme of things, it frees you up to experiment, try new things, take risks, and fail on a smaller scale. Fail badly. It’s okay. It’s good, actually.
Think about it this way: everybody loves a good comeback story. So fail today, and then tomorrow inspire them with the story of how you bounced back. Make them sorry for doubting the person you used to be.
Unlock Closed Doors. But Go Through the Open Ones First.
Have you tried removing the people or things in your life that keep you feeling small? It can be the most painful thing, to be honest with yourself about the things that are actually weighing you down. The people who make you feel like you’re not as great as your potential. When you start to remove the damaging components, you’ll start to love yourself more, believe in yourself more.
When you’ve increased the value of the vision you have of yourself, you won’t settle for less. You will find: The best group of friends who are likeminded and driven. The best diet to fuel a champion. The best workout regimen to sustain a healthy mind, body, and spirit. The best work routine to achieve your goals at the highest levels. All this because you think the world of yourself and now understand what you deserve.
You Are Only as Good as Your Routine. Train for Your Success.
Think about how you’re balancing your time between consuming social media versus posting and sharing your own content and engaging with your followers. It’s easy to fall into the habit of watching other people on social media all day long instead of focusing on what you’re doing. Why not spend that time creating and posting, instead? It’ll help you reach your goals faster, and it’s better for your mental health, too.
It’s exciting to see how much the platform has grown, but an unfortunate side effect is that it’s become more like other social media apps. Now every single post will get at least some negative comments. There’s no escaping it. Unfortunately, it’s just a part of the social media algorithm.
The most important thing is that you use any criticism you face, online or off, to make yourself better, instead of letting it stop you or dim your confidence.
Success Is for Rent. You’ll Never Pay It Off.
For an artist’s first single to become a number one hit is less likely than being struck by lightning seven times. That’s a real stat. It’s all good to experiment and fail when no one knows your name. You have to prepare now for when the world starts watching. Let’s say one of your posts goes viral today. Are you ready to follow it up and for your new fans to do a deep dive into your other content?
In addition to being prepared, you have to make sure that you love what you create. Not only does loving what you do every day make it easier to work hard, but you’ll also be able to stand behind your product when it hits. It’s a balance to create wildly while always being guided by what is truly exciting to you.
Obstacles Are Opportunities. Grab Creative Blessings in Disguise.
Imagine that your mind is the AI in a video game, and your body is just the skin that you’ve been given to play the game. If your mind knows what you have to do in order to get to the next level, it can instruct your body. Once you have that kind of power over yourself, that’s when you start to live a life that you can fully control.
This is how you train yourself to become the beast that you were meant to be. See what it feels like to win, and get used to it. Do not take the small things lightly, because that shit’s not light. Every day counts, and it’s your mindset that has to change first, above all else.
At least show up, and once you get there, you can figure the rest out. It usually ends up going way smoother than you had imagined. And once you get used to showing up, it becomes natural. It’s that consistency and change of mindset that will get you to work on your craft more and force you to be a better version of yourself. You have to be willing to do the work that nobody else would. That’s how you’ll begin to set yourself apart.
Even if it’s hard for you to see your struggles in a positive light, if you continue to focus on you and on doing your best at whatever it is you do, I have no doubt that you will discover an opportunity or two along the way. Most likely, they will be the ones that you never would have found otherwise.
Decide What Is Important to You. Then Connect It to How You Spend Your Time.
Keep in mind that making time for recovery is just as important as working out. Sleep in particular is critical. It sets up your day and is such a huge part of your health and wellness. When your body has time to adequately recover, you can see and feel the difference. You don’t get those gains in the gym. You’ve got to break down the muscles and let them recover so they come back stronger.
At the end of the day, getting in shape is just like anything else that you want in life: it takes work. Sure, there are a few anomalies out there who are just born different, but most people don’t get a great body or a six-pack by accident, just as they don’t reach massive levels of success by accident, either. They do it by setting a goal, working their asses off, stumbling, falling, getting back up, and working some more.
Life is all about deciding what’s most important to you and connecting that to how you’re going to spend your time. It sounds simple because it is. It doesn’t really matter what you were born with or what kind of shape you’re in right now. If you decide that you want to improve yourself in any area and you’re willing to work at it, there is literally nothing that can stop you from the body, the career, or the life of your dreams.
Talent Is Overrated. Desire Is the Gift.
If there’s something that you’re already obsessed with that you want to spend all of your time becoming the best at, that’s great. If not, you have to make a decision. You can be a floating leaf all your life and hope that you eventually land on something you enjoy, or you can choose what you want to dedicate your life to. People have become successful and broken into industries at all ages, but the sooner you choose, the better your shot of success. You’ll simply have more time to perfect your skills. Again, it’s just math.
Most people think that you have to be passionate about whatever you choose to focus on, but in reality, that’s not true at all. You don’t even really have to like it. Focusing on something you enjoy or you’re passionate about is not a requirement. It’s just for your comfort. The truth is, you can work hard at anything. It’s just harder to stay disciplined the less passionate you are.
With that being said, if passion doesn’t drive you, then you have to find something that does. Otherwise, you’ll never be motivated to keep going through all the setbacks and tough times that are an inevitable part of the process. It doesn’t really matter what drives you, though. Just find something.