Learn how to fly, then keep going.

Discover what you love, then pursue it. No excuses.

Photo Creds: Cherish

I've always been the type of person who silently observed from a distance. Always second guessing myself. Always hesitant.

“What if I fail?”.
“But sweetheart, what if you fly?”

I now look at things differently. True failure is when you don’t try. Trying in itself is an accomplishment. Not many people take the chance to put themselves on the chopping block. And as long as you tried your hardest, as long as you did the best you could… Is it really failing? Even if it did not go as plan, you’re that much closer to success, that much closer to discovering your true potential. But you’ll never know if you don’t try.

This can be applied to anything in life. You won’t know your limits until you push yourself. Don’t find excuses. Just do it.

But how does one “just do it”?

I found myself asking this question a lot. There are a lot of successful people who say “Just do it, if you work hard you can achieve your dreams”.

Them: JUST DO IT.
Me: BUT HOW DO I JUST DO IT?!
Them: You want to be rich?
Me: YES
Them: JUST DO IT!
Me: ????????

Then I figured it out. You literally just do whatever you want to do.

You need to have your ultimate goal in mind, and plan accordingly.

I’m currently striving to be a concert pianist, and learning high level performance pieces sometimes looks like an impossible task. No matter how much music I read, how much I work on technique or how much music theory I learn, looking at a new performance level piece will always leave me with anxiety and doubt.

“This is too complicated”

“I can’t move my fingers that fast”

“My hands aren’t big enough; I can’t reach that octave jump”

This is the first page of a song I still struggle with. Chopin Etude - Winter Winds

I realized that all my worries and doubts were all just excuses. So I quieted my worries and focused only on my goal; learning the song. I came up with a system with how I was going to learn the song.

“I’ll start at the end, work my way to the beginning. Section by section, I’ll start slowly. Carefully I’ll decide what key to press with what finger (this helps with ingraining muscle memory).”

Then with time, and practice I’ve managed to get through songs I never thought I’d be able to play without years and years of practice, skill and dedication. Of course they’re not perfect yet, but I’m closer to it than I would have been if I just gave up and not try.