The question is always the same for those who work in the creative arts, “How bad do you want it?”
A former co-worker of mine clued me in on this age old question. He was a tech analyst just like me, but his dream was to be in a touring rock and roll band. So when things got tough he’d ask himself, “How bad do you want it?” So he’d practice harder, book more single gigs, work on his vocals.
How bad did he want it? Bad. Bad enough that when the company laid him off, he took that as a sign and ran with it. He was well prepared. He’d been busy working on his dream while he did his 9 to 5.
So he was asked to join a band, they toured, he was broke, they got a great manager. They toured some more, he dipped into his 401k, they toured some more, and then the band broke up. They played some big time gigs though. It made me proud to know he was living his dream.

Lots of people have dreams. Things they really really want to do. But they talk themselves out of those dreams. It’s easy to do. It’s a lot harder to stick to those dreams. A hell of a lot harder. But then as they say, big risk, big reward.

Putting your heart out there to get your dream is a tough thing to do. It can be painful too. But man, the pay off is so much better than safely sitting at home watching someone else on reality tv.
Come on! Get out there, put your heart on your sleeve. Risk it all.
“But what if we fail?” the little voice in the back of your mind whispers.
Pick yourself back up and do it all over again.
Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, congratulate those that got there. It was a tough road for them too. Putting yourself out there is tough stuff. Learn.

What are we here for anyway, but to relish in the highs and lows of life. Get busy. Follow that dream.

TILT: Following your dream is hard hard work. But then what’s the alternative? Not to Dream?
You can do it. How badly do you want it?