One of my favourite maxims from my latest song “Tunnel Vision”.
And here’s the thought process behind it.
A lesson that took me a surprisingly long time to learn was that nothing is going to fall out of the sky. I feel like for some reason and for far too long, my immaturity let me inadvertently buy into the concept of ‘winning the lottery’, or ‘catching a lucky break’. I guess I had the mindset of “Ok I’m good at this, however I’m not going to go in search of it, but I’m completely open to it if it comes to me, so I’m just going to wait and see if it’s going to happen.”… I quickly realised… that its never going to just…happen.
When I think about how this train of thought came to be for me, a few notions come to mind; I think the fact that occasionally stories of success come out of the woodwork where some star is born or discovered as if it was fate or destiny as such e.g. the story of a modern day superstar athlete being scouted at a local Sunday league competition and a year later is the top scorer of the English premier league (story of Jamie Vardy the footballer). Or how old mate Justin Bieber was randomly discovered online by Usher, and went on to become a superstar. It seems as though these success stories stuck with me the most, possibly due to the fairytale like unfolding sequence of events that usually accompanied them.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying I think hardworking, rags to riches stories are less publicised or less celebrated but for some reason, in my immaturity, such a story was hard to relate to. The reason being, to replicate such a feat, required an immense amount of dedication, training, preparation, self improvement, failure, persistence, hardship, and sacrifice all to be experienced before success is tasted, and then repeated in order to then maintain and elevate from that point of “success”.
I feel like the thought of having a talent or ability to start something, and not doing so in order to avoid the likelihood of failure is a comforting thought for some. It was definitely a comforting thought for me. I took a strange satisfaction from hearing I was good at something and that I should pursue it…but then not pursuing it. As if that praise was enough for me. I now recognise that it wasn’t the praise that satisfied me, it was the laziness of knowing success in any field required hard work that deterred me.
I also attached value to otherwise worthless bits of praise as they were inevitably going to support my “I coulda been something if I pursued it” story which I would have mastered in 10-15 years time.
I’m definitely not making these statements from a place of immense success by any means. In fact I am well aware that in some of avenues that I am exploring e.g. songwriting/music composition and skit creation, I am very much at square one. However in saying that, in other aspects of my life have experienced success and achievements that I am extremely proud of e.g. my sporting career and my studies. Achievements that required me to demonstrate many of the characteristics I mentioned previously. I know now, it’s foolish to anticipate success being achieved without trials and tribulations similar to if not worse than what I had to endure previously prior to acquainting myself with success.
Picture credit: CM Vision
When the words “If man invest, he can manifest” came together in my head, to me, they meant the following;
In order to manifest what I desire, I must go in search of it. And no matter what it is, it’s going to require an investment of time, effort, thought, patience, creativity and persistence.
Finding a way around roadblocks. Deploying, determination, and willingness to go outside my comfort zone but also to do whatever is required to fulfil the image I have of myself.
I’ve learnt that the single smartest investment I’ve ever made is in myself. An investment of time and effort and also money, in bettering myself, furthering my knowledge, but also believing in myself, doing things that benefit my state of mental health, that make me feel happy, but also challenging myself to be better.
The second I started sacrificing the time I spent performing activities that were not in line with my life goals and instead chose to invest it into activities that were conducive with my morals or took me steps (big or small) towards fulfilling the image I have for myself and what I want to be remembered for, I started to feel like I was making progress.
Management of expectations. All be it indirectly, the words “If man invest, he can manifest” remind me to manage my expectations so as to maintain and sustain my motivation. The way I see it, I can only expect to manifest and bring to life as much as much as I invest and just because I went from making no investment to then starting doesn’t mean I should expect too much too soon, or to only move forward and never move backwards.
These words reflect maturing to me. Maturing and realising that in order to move forward I must make a continued commitment to learning and growing. Also appreciating that what got me to one destination, won’t necessarily take me to the next.
And so ultimately I got tired of wishing, coz while sitting idle, wishing inefficient.
I hope this resonates with some of you!
Havek.
Here's the lyric video!
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