It’s The Work Stupid!

It’s my OCD. If I am going to clean my house, paint doors scratched by my dogs, clean up the kitchen, vacuum out my car, it’s all a result of me wanting to sit down and do what I do best, and that is writing.

Writing is my passion. A writer is the one thing I have always wanted to do for a living. I also very much like to write and produce videos. I’ve been a technician in the Film/TV industry for over a decade. And yes, that is a blatant “hint” if you are a production person or house that is hiring.

But I digress-

So why does it seem that all of us who have these passions seem to find any and all excuses to NOT sit down and pursue them as aggressively as we want them? Is it a fear of failing at it? Is it the rejection of others not acknowledging what we feel is our true talents?

The easy answers to just those two questions would be “yes,” we are afraid of failure. It’s fear that is behind mine and your lack of follow-through. I would like to stipulate also that this definitely applies to all things pursued by anyone that sees themselves following their passions.

It’s simple when you look at it like this. Imagine you have a ladder given to you by someone. You want to climb a particular mountain and reach the top for your own reasons. You know this giant ladder can get you to the top. But to start the climb, you have to step on the rungs leading to the top of the ladder.

The lower rungs are easy. When you start getting to the top rungs, your advancing starts to slow. Looking down, the height factor is intimidating. There are longer pauses with each step. But when you look up further, the top of the mountain is more apparent than you have ever seen it before.

But there’s wind swaying the ladder, and your grip on it is tighter. That grip is firm, making you hold your current place on the rung much longer. The swaying, holding on, is working to stop you from moving up.

Yes, it’s scary up there. Yes, it’s probably cold as hell! The jacket you have on can’t combat the temperature change. There are numerous “barriers” in the way. But you have worked so hard to get to where you are at that very moment.

Worked!!!

“Worked.” Does that ring any kind of mental bells! The begin-climb was easy. You wanted at the top. You started for the top. But going the distance got hard, and it always does.

Ask anyone after a workout in a gym, and they will tell you. If that person has a trainer, they’re happy to see them at the start, but if that trainer has done their job in that hour, the trainee wants to kill them. That “kill” is speaking metaphorically, of course.

Listen, you can’t blame “fear” for stopping you on your ladder rung. “Fear,” like any mental state, is abstract. It has no physicality stopping you. For example, if you walk into a wall, it stops you. If you walk and stop at a place you think a wall would be built but not yet constructed, I know, and you know, you can step through.

Why?

You got past the would-be-built-wall because the wall isn’t there. It can’t stop you from getting there because it has no actual power to do so. But your step got you through. If you asked me what I did for an hour in the morning on my treadmill, count on “taking steps and strides” was a part of it. But If I stood on that treadmill and did nothing, I’m falling on my ass, and you would too.

If you have decided you will use the ladder you’ve been given to climb to the top of that mountain you have chosen to reach the top of, you have to climb those rungs. You have to go all the way. Does that mean you won’t occasionally stop or look down and become scared? Yes, it does. And congratulate yourself. You realize you are human.

But you aren’t going anywhere unless you climb. You aren’t going anywhere unless you work at it.

There is fear. There is the worry of failure, cleaning your house and vacuuming out your car or anything else which stops you from climbing. But all those abstract obstacles don’t just happen unless you allow them.

Work ALWAYS produces results. And results are tangible.

So, get climbing.

Hey, I’ve stepped up to another rung on my ladder. This article is written.

What have YOU done today?

One last thing. You need to be sure that the ladder you climb has a firm foundation to plant it on.

All passions are the foundation for ANY and ALL ladders to rest on.