7/100 - Set goals where you don't need permission to succeed
I have a lot of goals that will be really hard to achieve. Not only will I have to work hard and persist, I will have to get other people to approve of what I want to do in some way. I will need permission. I have to change other people’s minds. This type of goal goal can take a lot of time.
In the past I have had to get permission to go to college, to exhibit my artwork, and to get my studio space. Applications are ubiquitous. Getting other people to approve what you do can feel like a constant struggle.
These are permission games. Like a grown-up form of “Mother, May I?” - you can’t take even a baby step without asking first.
“I didn’t feel that I had skated my best at the previous three Olympics before that.
...
My best chance here - it’s only a very minimal chance but I’m just going to stay out of the way and that way if anything does happen, then I’ll be there to capitalize”
Steven Bradbury needed the four best men’s short track speed skaters in the world to fall down to win a gold medal at the 2002 winter Olympics.
Of course he had to work hard to be there, but he wouldn’t be a failure if he hadn’t won the gold. He was a four time olympian. He kept showing up. Don’t make it so that you feel like you have failed if everything doesn’t line up perfectly for you.
One of the reasons that I decided to do this 100 day blogging challenge is that I don’t need permission to start and I don’t need permission to achieve my goal. I’m not trying to win a blogging prize or to get 10,000 readers. I’m trying to just show up every day with a new post.
You don’t need permission to create. You don’t need anyone else to tell you that you are allowed to be an artist. Make sure you set some goals that you can achieve whatever anyone else thinks. Make goals that you can achieve even if you are disappointed with your own work.
I have worked on three posts other posts today before this one. I am not happy with any of them as they are now but I still went ahead and wrote this one. Without the goal of posting for 100 days straight I would probably just wait until the tomorrow or the next day to post. If all of your goals require someone else’s permission for you to succeed. It’s going to be really tough. If all of your goals require you to be completely satisfied with your work, you might never be satisfied with anything.
Sometimes you win because you are the best. Sometimes you win because you showed up.