When you are feeling frustrated with your lack of progress towards your professional goals, consider this:
Today you will encounter at least one opportunity to move your vision for yourself, your art or your business forward.
And today, you will overlook at least one opportunity to do the same.
Kinda puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?
When we decide to put our dreams first, when we make a conscious decision to make a place for them in our lives, we begin to see our path differently. The same opportunity we would have overlooked months ago now seems as plain as the nose on your face. I've watched people actually do this. They'll tell me some tidbit of news and they don't see the obvious (to me) opportunity for themselves in it. They noted it because it rang a tiny bell inside them, but they were not yet attuned to the bell. It stirred them enough to slow them down, but not enough to stop them in their tracks and pull them on to action.
Once you are attuned, though, you FEEL that. Just like a tuning fork, you will find yourself not just sensing, but reacting, REVERBERATING to that opportunity. Your eyes are not only open, your heart is ready.
On the other hand, once you become aware of how many opportunities there really are for you to move forward, you also become agonizingly aware of how many you can actually follow up on.
So along with the excitement of moving forward, you also can feel like a failure. Failure to follow up. Failure to make the most of every opportunity. Failure to make every one work.
There are many reasons for this. I'm only one person, after all, responsible for every aspect of my business from production to shipping, from marketing research to janitorial services. Not everything gets done in a day, in a week, in a month, or even in a year. To be honest, some projects NEVER get finished, or even started.
Our spouses and children don't disappear just because we have a deadline to meet. If you have another job in addition to your arts or crafts career, the demands on your time, attention and energy are even greater. Life intervenes--health issues, accidents, celebrations.
Photo shoots get postponed, crucial product sources dry up, new leads trail to a dead end. Stuff happens. If you're not careful, it can drive you to distraction and feelings of inadequacy.
Learn to let go. As important as it is to jump on those opportunities, it's just as important to realize you won't land on every one. Sometimes it even works out for the best.
