Will and Honesty: The Key to Success in Pursuing Your Dreams
This concept has been discussed many times, but it came back to me when a writer with immense potential informed me that they were considering giving up. When someone with such talent and potential says that, it’s a moment that calls for reflection. I don’t encourage them one way or another because, even though someone has a gift, it does not mean that that is their calling. This may be the case here, but I will share my thoughts with you in general terms.
My writer acquaintance has talent, no doubt, and dreams about being a “famous writer” (I hate that phrase, especially when one ties it with a goal). The problem that my acquaintance found, though, was that dreaming about it is not enough. One must obsess about it.
The blessing and curse of my writer acquaintance is that they are a good writer. They have much to learn regarding craft and business knowledge (we never know it all). They are relying, though, on their innate ability. That’s not enough. We must keep studying and growing, especially when obsessing over a goal. That is the only way for us to prepare ourselves for when the opportunity finally comes, and it will come to those who don’t give up. The question is, when it comes, will the person be ready for it? Can they shoulder it? Can they support themselves under the weight this massive goal carries with it? That, my writer acquaintance, will never know (unless they change their thinking).
This person also quit because they made their journey emotional. Don’t. To be cliché, it’s just business. View it as that. Any rejection is not a rejection of you; it simply indicates that you are not in the right place at the right time. As my children say, “Wait. For. It.” It will come.
My writer acquaintance is also an inspired writer, which means they don’t write anything until the muse hits them between the eyes. Even though incredibly talented, they wrote only when the muse did strike. It doesn’t work that way. This obsession must be so intense that one needs to move towards it every day, even if your wheels are spinning in place, or even worse, if you’re sliding backward downhill a few feet while the wheels appear to be spinning forward. The point is, keep those wheels spinning whether you are moving forward or not.
My writer acquaintance got an offer to work for a magazine writing articles about their subject. It wasn’t the subject of my acquaintance’s particular angle (they wanted to be a novelist), but it was a way in rather than working as a frozen yogurt maker at a Wisconsin-based restaurant. I advised them to take the writing job. They declined, thinking that wasn’t what they wanted to do. And now they are giving up. The point is, I’ve done many things in my life that I thought were detours but, in the end, turned out to be sideways steps into where I wanted to go. I guess the cliché again is not to say “no” to life but to say “yes” to life. Jump at opportunities even if they aren’t exactly what you want, always focusing on that big obsession and how you can parlay any opportunity into that obsession. Be open to the different paths to get where you want to go. Now, instead of being a writer, even if it is not the writer they temporarily wish to be, they are in a position to become an unhappy assistant manager of the frozen yogurt restaurant. They’ve chosen an unfortunate path and are willingly going down it.
So, what is the moral of the story? Know what you want. Obsess over it daily, every waking hour, and then dream about it when you sleep. Prepare yourself even before you get there, and that means daily. There is no time off or vacation from an obsession. Take any side road that has an inkling of getting you where you want to go. Recognize the opportunity when it presents itself. And, last of all, if you truly realize, even if you have the talent, that the writing life is not for you, courageously embrace that choice, too. It’s your life. You can do what you want with it.
If someone wanted to be a professional writer, this is the advice I would give, even if the person had all the talent in the world. Talent, in the big picture, I’ve found to be the least of the determining factors of success. It’s will and honesty that make all the difference.
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