Writing My SECOND MEDIUM ARTICLE
*Gulp!*
*Gulp!*
My dad gave me many things I will always carry with me. Most of them have served me well, some in a warm fuzzy way, and some in a “well, I’ll show you!” way. But I am grateful for every one of them.
You Can Do Anything You Want
My dad told me this consistently and constantly throughout my early life. This phrase was cousin to his phrases, “eat your vegetables,” and “you can put up with ANYTHING for a semester.”
He convinced me early that I truly could accomplish absolutely anything. The trouble was that my fertile brain seemed to always come up with something new that sounded like great fun at the moment of inception. Outcomes, however, were not always good.
That brought my dad to the point where he felt he had to add another concept to my experience. His next phrase acted as a modifier to his first phrase but was based arbitrarily on his opinion of a project.
That’s Stupid
This phrase was needed occasionally to temper my enthusiasm. In his wisdom, he had to admit the overstatement of his first advice. But the fact was, his first advice was actually true.
What I discovered eventually was that he should have said was different. After I had ever disclosed my latest goal, we both would have been better served if he had asked me a question.
Great! How Far Along Are You?
What I needed to know was that I had no idea how I was going to get to my goal — what my plan should be. Was it simply to sit and wish for success?
I needed a plan to accomplish my goal and a way to measure how close I was getting to that goal. My dad always told me I could do anything, but he never told me how. And I never asked him.
That then became my next goal. Figure it out.
One of my recent goals was to write. Part of that goal was the step of writing in Medium. That seemed distant, something that the REAL WRITERS do. I may well have wanted to publish an article in JAMA.
So now my mission is not “rah-rah-rah — do what you want.” My mission now is to learn how to find and read the roadmap. I have learned to get going before I can be scared enough to talk myself out of the project.
I must not let my perfectionism slow down my accomplishment. I can continue to learn while I work. It’s time to ship.
So now I have also written an article for Medium.
You can often find Don hanging out at his websites about real estate or writing.
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