My street is a busy one. People come and go, they wait at the intersection to cross the road so there is quite some traffic. One day last year, something new appeared. It was not a new store or restaurant or even a new building, but a new presence. It was a street artist whom I’ve heard play one evening. To be honest, he was pretty bad and the first thing I felt was an annoyance. I wished him gone and thought that with his performance, he wouldn’t last too long.

Don’t quit

Guess what? It is a year later, and he is still there. To be honest, he is as bad as ever, did not improve a bit, but I have to respect his perseverance. Moreover, I came to actually like him and enjoy his “tuned-out” playing. It sounds crazy, right? Well, once I explain, it won’t anymore. The fact that he is probably aware of the fact that he is not the best musician, but still, he shows up every day, despite what people think, shows resilience. Not being afraid to make mistakes and not caring what others might say (just for the sake of keeping up appearances) is the first step towards reaching your full potential. Fear kills the mind. This is 100% true! Once you start fearing what people might say, if they judge you or not, whether you are good enough or not, you start being paralyzed. There will always be people smarter, wittier, better looking than you. This is a fact, don’t doubt it. It is not meant to discourage you, on the contrary, it should highlight the fact that there is always room for growth. 

Ignore malevolence

Just today, I remembered the story of the deaf frog which wanted to climb a tree. Its fellow frogs “benevolently” told it: “This cannot be done by a frog”. Nevertheless, the frog went ahead. When it started climbing the tree, the other frogs started jumping and shouting to warn it that it would fall and get injured. The frog was deaf so it only saw them jumping up and down and shouting. It figured they were cheering and this got it even more determined to do it. Needless to say, the frog reached the treetop and realized its dream. All the other frogs were now impressed and jumped up and down with joy to celebrate the success. 

It is the same in life. People will manifest their kindness trying to warn you to be cautious when you are fearless, to be judicious when you are courageous and to be restrained when you are outgoing. Be like the frog, be like the street artist.

Pursue your dreams

No matter how bold your goals, just go ahead and pursue them. Nothing ever came of someone who did nothing, who listened to people saying why something should not be done.

The greatest achievers are the most audacious people that dream big, aim high and never listen to those that say this can’t be done. Stop procrastinating and start taking steps towards what you want. There is no better time than now to start! 

My street is quiet, too quiet. Now there is no one playing out of tunes melodies. But I have faith that soon it will all be over and he’ll be back on the corner filling me with the motivation that if you have the will-power nothing can stand in your way. 

We are going through epic times now. Our generation has never faced something like this before. We have to practice social distance to prevent getting ourselves and our loved ones sick. Most of us work remotely, not as a choice, but as a prevention method. I recently read that “ if you don’t come out of this quarantine with a new skill, more knowledge or your side hustle started, you never lacked time, you lacked discipline”. This is an undeniable truth.   

Start chasing your goals today!