In January of 2008, I decided I was going to write my very first novel and have the draft finished by my 25th birthday that year. Two months blew by and I still hadn’t made any progress. I needed to put pressure on myself and give myelf massive accountability.
So in March of 2008, I started a blog called Procrastinating Writers. (I figured that name fit considering I’d been procrastinating on my novel-writing dream for most of my life.) And I only had one goal: I was going to write and publish one post a week and share about my journey to writing the first draft of my first novel. This would keep me accountable to showing up and doing the work.
Back then the only goal I could see was getting a novel written, published and out in the world. It was my ultimate dream at that point.
But then in 2015, I finally got that novel finished and published. I had achieved my ultimate dream. And that’s when even bigger dreams began revealing themselves to me.
Dreams I hadn’t even allowed myself to think about, let alone utter a word of, because it felt so far away and so impossible. Once I had a published novel, though, the next piece of the puzzle showed itself.
And that’s how it happens.
We often tell ourselves that we have to know the entire picture or that we have to know every single step we’ll encounter along the way. But we don’t. In fact, most of the time, you won’t. You won’t have a freaking clue what the next step is.
You just have to take the first step and trust that as you do, the next step will be revealed and then the next, until you inevitably achieve your goal.
And taking that first step is always the hardest and the scariest. We’re not taught how to deal with uncertainty. But uncertainty is a big part of living your dream life.
You have to trust in yourself and believe in your vision–whatever you can see of it–and act in faith.
Easier to say than to do, I know. But it doesn’t have to be.
When you start to take action on your dreams–any actions, even baby-step actions–you begin to get clues and hints for what the next step is. Or you get feedback in the form of how you feel or a gut instinct that says something is slightly off and you need to pivot.
Recently I’ve been getting all kinds of clarity around my bigger purpose and vision for my life and my business. The dreams are getting bolder and more expansive, and my faith in the next step revealing itself if I just keep taking action is growing every day.
Today I own a company. Not just a side gig or a hobby, but a real business that makes money and changes people’s lives. I get to spend my time doing stuff that I love to do. I have total freedom and control of everything.
In 2008, I never could’ve seen the vision for where I am right now, or the vision for where I’m now headed. Back then all I could see was my goal of writing a novel and finally becoming consistent with my writing practice. And now I run a full-time business that supports me in creating my dream life and making the impact that I want to make in the world.
But none of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t take that first step way back when and started a blog to share my journey to writing my novel.
The kind of clarity and confidence I now have as a writer, an author, a speaker, a leader and a business owner came from taking action. And not just taking a little action, but taking A LOT of action and then continuing to take action, over and over again. It came from seeing what works and what feels good to me, and giving myself permission to pivot when it doesn’t.
If you want to achieve something or if you want a bigger vision and purpose for your life to be revealed, then you must START and you must commit to continuing on. No. Matter. What.
Action. Consistency. That’s what you need to see more of the steps and the bigger picture revealed to you.
And, again, those answers to what you need to do to make your dream writing life happen will continue to reveal themselves, the more you take action, test things out and then tweak based on the results and how it feels for you.
The more you do that, the more confident you’ll start to be. And you’ll build inner strength and an inner knowing that you will finally begin to trust.
Clarity and confidence comes from taking action and continuing to take action. Period.
Dream life or bust,
