Begin Your Dream Project TODAY!
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by Asoka Selvarajah, Ph.D
Have you ever dreamed of writing a book? Or starting your own
business? Or enrolling in an Art course? Or whatever?.....
If the answer is yes, then why haven't you?
Recently, I finished and launched my first major book, entitled
"The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self". It was a
proud moment when the whole thing was finished and available. It
was an even happier moment when the very first person bought a
copy!
I learned many lessons from the whole process of writing and
planning a book, and carrying the process to execution.
Hopefully, these lessons will inspire you to commence your own
dream project today.
The biggest lesson of all is: Just DO it! Cut through the excuses
and get started today. Half of finishing a project is just
starting it in the first place. One of the main reasons people do
not break out of their comfort zone, and commence making their
dream come true, is lack of self-confidence. Too often, we are
waiting for someone to descend from the sky and confer "expert"
status upon us. We play down our strengths, compare ourselves to
the elite in the field we wish to enter, judge ourselves
unworthy, and decide that it is not even worth starting. It is
better to do nothing.
The truth is that you ARE an expert in something; probably quite
a lot of things. Being an expert simply means that you know more
about a subject than MOST people do. It does NOT mean that you
have to be the last definitive word on the matter. For example,
if the qualification for writing a book about Buddhism is that
you have to be an enlightened Buddha, then there would have very
few writings on the subject!
Likewise, you do not have to wait until you have it all perfectly
figured out to begin your dream project. You can start where you
are. If you lack confidence, then give yourself some boosters by
creating little successes along the way to your big goal. My book
did not just jump out of me fully grown one day. Before it, there
was an established ezine. Before the ezine, there was a single
article that I wrote and showed to only one person. When she said
it was good, I tried publishing it in some other ezines and was
encouraged with the resulting acceptance. It is the same with
you. Start small and give yourself little stops along the way for
encouraging water to drink. But above all else, start! Once you
begin your project with definiteness of purpose, it gathers its
own momentum and many unseen forces come to your aid.
Making a dream project come true takes work. Do not believe
otherwise. Writing a book is a grinding activity that requires
time (lots of it), thought, research and sheer persistence.
The discipline is all you have left at times. For instance, I set
myself the goal of writing two pages every day, seven days a
week. Sometimes, those two pages came fairly easily. Sometimes,
they were torture. However, by first setting the goal of your
dream project, and then setting mini-goals towards its
achievement (e.g. two pages per day in my case), you gradually
make it come true, bit by bit. Persistence with a routine also
creates a momentum behind your routine.
Here is a plan I heard about recently for writing a book in 90
days. I wish I had known about it when I was starting my own. It
goes like this:
First, decide what your book is going to be about. Second, write
down 25 chapter headings. Third, for each chapter heading, write
down titles for 4 sub-headings. For each sub-heading, write down
titles for two further sub-sections. Then.....
Get writing!
Having created the structure of your book before you even begin,
you make it far easier to stimulate your brain into creative
action. The human brain hates incompletions. Thus, by creating a
structure and getting to work to fill it, you are challenging
your brain to complete all the sections and sub-sections. It will
definitely do so, provided you get started in the first place.
With this structure in place, it should be fairly easy to write a
couple of pages a day every day, provided you make the time for
it. Certainly, it is far easier to do it this way than to try and
write a book with no plan at all.
An important point is that this same process can be carried out
with dream projects other than books. After all, what you are
really doing with this scheme is setting a goal and then creating
all the mini-goals towards its completion. Then you are setting
aside time every day to spend upon that goal. Hence, you can
adapt the above plan to suit your own project.
What really holds you back from even beginning your project? Are
you afraid of what people might say if you fall flat on your
face. Might it be that you fear that nobody will want what you
have to offer? Are you "too busy" with running the house, or
bringing in the money? What excuse are you using to hold you back
from what you would really love to do?
Imagine a different scenario for a moment. Pretend that your book
(or your Art, or your interior design business, or whatever) was
a stunning success. Imagine for a moment that people flocked to
you, wanting to know more about what you have to offer. See the
press clamoring to interview you on radio and TV. For just a
moment, imagine that what you have always dreamed of doing COULD
NOT FAIL. If you like, there is a genie standing in front of you,
about to grant you this one wish and make it all come true. Close
your eyes and imagine this for a second.
NOW.... Say to yourself:
1) "I'll get around to it once the kids have grown up" OR
2) "Well, when the mortgage is paid off, we'll see..." OR
3) "Once I'm retired....." OR
4) "Yes, but I'm too young/old/black/white/uneducated....." OR
5) "I need to do a bit more study on the subject first..." OR
6) Whatever YOUR private excuse are!
and then walk away from it!....
Are you serious? Why would you exchange that bright future for
doing the dishes, or turning up at that job you hate with
absolutely no plans for a change? So, what is holding you back
from starting? The answer is: your own fears and self-doubt.
If you knew in advance that you could not fail, then NOTHING
would hold you back from commencing RIGHT NOW. All of the above
numbered points are just excuses designed to protect you from
ever taking any real risks in life. Yet, without risk, there is
little or no chance of gain.
It may be less a matter of "what if I fail?" than a fear of "what
if I succeed?" Some people are afraid of failure and what others
might think. However, others are secretly afraid of the
consequences of their own success. Either way, you are the only
person creating the ceiling on how far you can go in your life.
If you have a bit of self-doubt in you, then welcome to the human
race. EVERYONE who has ever achieved anything worthwhile has felt
the exact same way. Yet, the key is to overcome this and begin to
work on your dream now.
You just have to START, and be willing to fail a few times. The
greatest successes in life have also failed more times than
anyone else. Many multimillionaires have actually gone bankrupt
several times prior to making their big money. Edison made
several thousand failed attempts before finally inventing the
electric lightbulb.
If you wish to succeed fast, then double your rate of failure.
Set your goals ahead of you and go for them undaunted. If you act
as if you could not fail, then you will not. In fact, do not even
use the word "failure", but instead call it "feedback"
towards
your goal.
Give some thought to these matters. If you have not taken any
serious steps towards your dream, ask yourself why not. Do you
REALLY want your dream, or are you content for it to remain a
fantasy? If the answer is no, then try going to work on it today.
Have faith and have persistence. Be brave and be willing to fail
as many times as it takes to succeed. Do all of this and the
universe will do the rest to bring your dream to you faster than
you can imagine.
Copyright 2002, Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.
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Dr. Asoka Selvarajah is the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To
Knowing Your Higher Self". Subscribe to his FREE ezine (and get
a FREE e-book when you do!) to learn easy and powerful strategies
for your spiritual and personal transformation. Discover how to
achieve your life dreams. Visit his website at:
http://www.higherselfsecrets.com?ZFILE
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