One of these days I’ll learn how to do that thing, one of these days I’ll invest in my health more, one of these days I’ll tell that person how much I love them.
It’s easy to live on those types of loose deadlines. Comfortable. Open. “One of these days” has the same effect as “Someday.”
Watch out for them. They make us think we have a million “These days” and “Somedays.” I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to storing dreams and ideas into vague pockets of space, promising that I’ll get around to them.
Being firm and intentional about goals is hard. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
That’s why a crucial step for making progress is to create milestones, deadlines, and structure. It reduces the chance of falling into the trap of “I’ll get around to it…” No matter the goal, it needs daily attention, no matter how small the progress.
Move the needle. Set a milestone. Celebrate the little wins and keep going.
Work update
This week I started the beginning phase for the next lesson scheduled for production (lots of research) and figured out how to use the text features in Photoshop.
I also made a mistake this week, which is not entirely unusual, but this one got me extra low for a couple of reasons:
1) I had thought a basic action had been completed on my end when it had not been
2) That made me feel disproportionately unworthy based on the situation
3) I technically already knew all the tools and practices that would have avoided the entire snafu, and I hadn’t used them
Thankfully, I’ve been able to straighten it out. It reaffirmed a valuable lesson that I thought I’d already learned: Keep an organized inbox, don’t make assumptions, and make the call even if you’re not 100% sure it’s the right one.
Personal update
I love music. I don’t have any special talent or knack for it, but it brings me joy to give my life a soundtrack. If you’ve spent more than a few minutes with me, the chances are high that you’ve heard me make some type of musical sound when one wasn’t necessary.
For a long time, I would get frustrated when I couldn’t sing on key with the songs I liked. It bothered me that no matter what I did, my pitch would be off.
And then I realized the majority of my plight was coming from the fact that I was trying so hard to match the singer, not changing the key to match my vocal capabilities. An untrained, unaltered voice is not going to sound like the people on the radio.
When I started adjusting the songs for my voice, everything became much less strained.
If it feels strained and frustrating, it’s not always the song or you, it might just be the key you’re trying to sing it in.
I say this because I think life is kind of like that. When you change your perspective, your mindset, you have the power to relieve the tension between idea and execution.
It’s not easy to adjust the key of our lives. We’re often trying to mimic the sound of someone else’s because, at one point, we were convinced that version was the right way to do it or the only way to do it.
It’s not to say that you won’t ever sing in that pitch or hit that note just right—there’s always a chance to train and grow—it just means you can adjust the dial along the way with each new venture.
My dial is steadily being able to be set higher the more I stop trying to force myself to the break in my voice.
You don’t have to break to learn, but you do have to be willing to adjust your key.
Thank you for reading!