It’s true that many people keep an inspiration close to their hearts, but don’t take the steps necessary to follow through to a conclusion.

Why don’t people take those steps?

• Life gets in the way
• Other people say it can’t be done
• It’s too difficult to raise the capital
• Fear of failure
• Dislike of change
• The dream would take too many weeks, months or years to accomplish.
• People like me don’t do things like that
• I’m not smart enough
• The vision is too big, and therefore too frightening to think about
• The vision is too small, and therefore not worth it

Any of these things can be reasons for not following a passion.

But remember, every single one of the above reasons grows wobbly legs when looking at what others have achieved, even against seemingly impossible odds.

Getting help when needed

Some people have vision, but not a grasp on the practicalities of realising the vision– and become discouraged.

Some people are great at details and tasks, but have trouble gaining a view of the big picture.

If this is you, you can:

• ask yourself what you need to do to take things to the next step
• gain advice on taking things further
• partner with those people who have the abilities to propel your vision further
• do nothing, but repeat often “I’d really like to do that!”

All of these are valid choices, but of course the last one is unlikely to be satisfying in any way!

Cate Bolt and Project 18.

Many Australian business women who use Twitter will be familiar with Cate Bolt, a business owner and mother of a large family who is currently engaged in promoting and raising funds for a vision close to her heart. We published an article on Cate and her vision, project 18, in August.

This month, Cate was interviewed at Cherry Magazine. Cate continues to take matters on with both hands, forging new paths and inspiring a team of volunteers and professionals who can help bring Project 18 to fulfilment.

It’s this kind of passion that gets things done.

Sometime (probably often) passion comes to ‘push’.

It’s not easy to keep pushing yourself when things seem hopeless or when obstacles loom too large– or when you’re just plain exhausted!

That’s when surrounding yourself with like-minded people and supporters can help you through.

If you’re not following your heart, what are you following?

Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1014014

Guest post by Annabel Candy.

You can find Annabel at her website Get in the Hot Spot where you can discover ways of living your own dream life.

Psychologists describe ‘grit’ as being able to stick to a job and keep at it for a long period of time despite setbacks. They’ve found that having grit is more useful when it comes to achieving your goals than intelligence.

Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, had been studying the importance of grit. Her studies show that the ability to stick with something, and persevere at it, will make a greater contribution to it than having a high IQ.

Quite simply, to get what you want out of life, and achieve your goals, you need to persevere. Persevering isn’t enough by itself though, you also have to keep our long term goals in mind.

Get What You Want Out Of Life

Set your goal and focus on it 100%
First you need to work out what you really want to get out of life. If you know what your dreams are, then you can set goals and start working towards them. See How To Work Our What Your Dream Is if you’re having trouble with this.

Be ambitious and believe in yourself

Confidence was been an issue for me. I always knew I wanted to be a writer but was advised not to become one because it’s “too competitive”. In reality, there’s plenty of room for more writers, actors, business people, or whatever you dream of being. If you want something enough, and believe you can achieve it, then you’ll find a niche for yourself in that field.
Top Tip – If a lack of confidence is holding you back, try picking a short mantra that sums up what you want to be or do. For example, happy mum, successful writer, top entrepreneur. Now make that your password so every time you log onto your computer, or your favorite websites, you reinforce your goals.

Understand that you will need to stay focused for years to achieve your dreams

I think we all know that success doesn’t happen overnight, but by working towards the same goal consistently over a long period of time you’ll succeed in the long run. Let’s take my goal of writing a book. It’s a long term project. So far, over the course of a year, I’ve spent about three months writing my book and another three months editing it. I know that if I really want it to be published, I’ll have to spend another three months finding an agent, and probably the same amount of time revising the book according to my agent’s recommendations. If I stop focusing on my goal it won”t happen, it’s as simple as that.

Be prepared to work hard

It’s fun to dream that we’ll win the lottery, or that an agent will discover us at the airport and propel us to a success in a glittering Hollywood career. I’ve spend a fair amount of time fantasizing about this kind of thing, and it never got me anywhere. I’ve noticed that most people whose are described as “overnight successes” deny it and say they spent many long years practicing their art and networking in their field. If you want to achieve your dreams, you’ll have to work hard as well.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by new ideas that pop up

If you get bored easily this is something to look out for. Allow yourself time to think and be creative, but keep coming back to your main goals and focus on them first. When you’ve achieved that, you can always concentrate on other things next.

Don’t get discouraged by setbacks: learn a lesson and get back to your goal

There will always be set backs. I seem to have them most days! But I just moan about it for a few minutes or allow myself to feel angry, annoyed or upset briefly, then I channel that emotion into getting on with achieving my goal. It takes practice to develop a thick skin, and stop taking setbacks personally, but getting over them is vital.

Finish your projects

Starting new projects is good ~ finishing them is better. You need closure which will then allow you to move on from one project to another. Don’t get stuck in a cycle of starting new things but not finishing them.

Congratulate yourself on your successes along the way

It’s important to stay motivated and recognizing your successes is vital. Because your goals are long term you need to acknowledge each small success you make on the way to it. To stay motivated try using Twitter, it worked for me, or hook up with a like-minded people and harness the power of co-motivation.

Look forward to having achieved your goals

Can you imagine what it will be like when you’ve achieved your goals and are living your dream? Start thinking about it, but only if you understand that you’re going to get there because of your own hard work, not because a fairy god-mother waved her wand and made all your wishes come true.

Know what your weaknesses are so that you can be ready to tackle them

For example, I know I’m easily distracted so I have to focus extra hard on my goals. I’m sensitive too, but I’ve learnt not take set backs personally, to carry on working towards achieving my goals, no matter what. I’m also forcing myself to be more ambitious, even though some part of me thinks it’s selfish. If I’m not ambitious, I’ll lack the drive to follow through on my intentions. Can you see what your weaknesses are and come up with a plan to counter them?

You can read the full article, 10 ways to get the life you want  at Get in the Hot Spot

I’m inspiring and informing myself, and other people, on how we can bring out the best in ourselves and live our dream life. We only live once, let’s make it fun and fulfilling. I have nothing to sell and nothing to prove. I just want people to get motivated and go after the things they want in life.

I’m also a web designer with an MA in Design for Interactive Media.
I like to work with SMEs designing user-friendly websites that get results. You can find out more about how to get an effective Internet design for a reasonable price here: http://mucho.com.au

Annabel

Graphic credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stereofunk

Isabel Allende is a strong, fiesty woman and author. She is a spirited and highly entertaining speaker.

Isabel tells that 80% of displaced people and refuges in the world are women and children, and explains how passion is needed to effect change. Age, beauty and social standing are not important– finding your heart of passion is.