How many times have you allowed fear to be your guide? I know I have, but it’s time to find out how to let passion, not fear, be your decision maker. And in today’s episode of Being Your Sassy Self, Anu Gunn – musician, actor and film maker – does just that.
Check out what Anu had to share and click on each of these links – The Best Breakup, The Wedding, and the Two Professors – to check out his work! (Sorry it’s a little fuzzy, the footage got a little damaged, but what he shared was so good not to share)
How many of us have dreamed of leaving home to become a rock star, but never actually did. Anu did, and even when he floundered a bit, he found inspiration to keep pushing, learning, growing, and ultimately doing what he loves in both his day job and side gig. How many of us are lucky enough to say that?
Follow Your Passion
As Anu mentioned, a big piece in following your passion is knowing yourself. That means really figuring out what your likes and dislikes are, and truly finding that thing or things that you like doing. This goes beyond any pie in the sky dreams of wanting to be the next big (fill in the blank), but not putting any effort into really accomplishing it. Those dreams aren’t where your passion lies. The things that you’re truly passionate about are the ones, that as Anu mentioned, you’d still be doing even if you were a billionaire. So as you begin to dig deep to find your true passion(s), why not let that question be your guide. Then once you’ve taken some time to truly sit with yourself and figure it all out, it’s time to start getting specific on what needs to take place to turn that passion into reality.
Setting Goals for Your Birthday
That’s the thing about dreams, they still need action and effort on your end to become reality. That’s why I love Anu’s take on birthdays. If birthday’s aren’t your thing or if choosing goal dates is hard, consider setting goals you’d like to accomplish from one birthday to the next.
This means you’ll actually have to take some time to write down the item(s) you’d like to change or improve in your life, with as much specificity as possible. That means that instead of just saying I want to find a new job, you name the job you want to find, along with the pay, benefits, hours, distance, etc. you want. If weight loss is your goal, then write down – I want to lose 30 lbs or 5 inches off my waist and be able to run a 5k without stopping or fit into my favorite little black dress without spanks.
Once you have your goal(s) in place, it’s time to write at least 2-3 action items that you need to do to accomplish the goal. This helps you break down your goals into more manageable chunks to offer you starting points, and ultimately keep you on track. For example, if completing a 5k is your goal, your action items could be to: find a Couch to 5k program, find other people to run/walk with, make time in your day to train, etc.
Post your list somewhere you can see it daily. Maybe create a vision board to go along with it. The most important thing is that you keep tabs on where it is you want to be, chart your progress along the way, and edit or remove anything that is no longer in line with where you want to be on your next birthday. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind or methodology for how you want to accomplish your goal. And if your birthday comes along and you weren’t able to accomplish everything you set out to, be gentle with yourself because Arianna Huffington is right.
Once we’re able to wrap our minds around the fact that failure is not something to be feared, but rather our greatest teacher, then fear begins to give way and you begin to see just how we can, as Anu said, let passion, not fear, be your decision maker. And that my friends, is how we begin to move away from living the life we have, to living the life we want. So get out there, get clear on what you want, take the steps necessary to reach it, and let me know how it goes.
What passion(s) will you be pursuing now that fear is no longer your decision maker?
This post is not sponsored, however this post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something via those links Your Sassy Self receives a small percentage of the profits. Thanks for your support!
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