Whoa Nellie!
“Whoa Nellie!”
In other words...
“Wait! Stop! Before you get ahead of yourself and start pursuing your dreams. Let me tell you what to do.”
If you’re not careful, getting bogged down into too much of this kind of rhetoric can be discouraging.
Although I do believe that it is wise to seek out appropriate guidance or perhaps even a mentor in order to help you be successful in whatever you choose to pursue in life, sometimes I can’t help but feel as though that when I read some of these “advice” articles there is some sort of an underlying subliminal message meant to make the reader think twice about whether or not they really want to pursue their endeavors. This is effective, I think, in eliminating competition.
Now, most of these advice articles are written by people who have no doubt experienced their share of ups and downs in the pursuit of their own career endeavors and have had to work hard to get to where they are. I certainly applaud that! But we must admit that somewhere along the line, if and when you become successful at whatever it is that you desire to do it is ultimately because someone, somewhere decided to give you a chance! Furthermore, I am 100% sure that no person given a chance and an opportunity is always 100% perfect at their craft.
That’s the part these advice articles don’t tell you. They imply that you must be perfect but none of us are. This is why so many fields refer to the work as practice because we are always practicing and striving for perfection but are never quite perfect. We are constantly learning and growing. Lessons and growth require mistakes and failures in order to be realized as such.
With that said, so many times I think that we have a desire to do something in life and when we finally gather up the courage to express that desire or seek out information about how to achieve our goals, we run into someone or something that can potentially zap our courage to even try. Thoughts of the competition, investment, sacrifice, and possible failure invades our thinking. I think that happens because we don’t know how to compartmentalize the pros and the cons. When we pursue a dream or plan to achieve a goal, if we really want it bad enough, we have to alter our perspectives so that the pros outweigh the cons. But that’s ONLY if we want it bad enough.
So, next time you read an article or are given advice on something that you want to do, heed the wisdom, take away what’s useful, and throw away what isn’t and do not be afraid to make mistakes and learn!
And…. when discouragement comes to pull up on the reigns of your goals and your dreams, don’t wait, and don’t stop, take the wisdom you can use and carry it with you as you move forward to pursue whatever it is you want in life.
Keep going Nellie! J
A. L. Hearn