Do you know the similarity between horizon lines, and starting lines for projects?
Some people stay forever chasing them without reaching it. The funny thing is with an actual horizon line, we can never reach it. There is a physical boundary present. On the other hand, with starting lines there is a mental boundary present. Let me explain.
The only thing stopping you from starting that next project, is you and the excuses you have to push the line back. Every time you get a few steps away, you self-sabotage and push the line further back.
This one can be tough, but overcoming these excuses will lead to your breakthrough once you realize why:
- You don’t need to have any background knowledge to start.
- You don’t need money, new gear, plugins, resources, etc. to start.
- You don’t need an audience, or know marketing to start.
The single most important thing you do need, is to be willing to take the first step and make a commitment that cements that starting line in place. Once you get external accountability, you can no longer move the line to push it back.
This tactic is how I ended up finally making music myself. I would always try and fail, or say “another time I’ll learn” to procrastinate starting.
One of my roommates even gave me a keyboard once after I said I wanted to learn piano. However, I didn’t touch it for two years, yet every so often the thought of using it would creep into my mind.
The Start
After being constantly pulled back and forth one day it finally hit me that if I kept pushing the starting line back on making music that I would never learn it. Similar to the horizon, I would always be chasing it.
That’s when I made a commitment to myself to learn production and was able to hold myself externally accountable by telling my friends what my plan was.
The Goal: To work on music everyday until I was good enough to release a project.
When I first sat down to make music as a college student in my bedroom, all my roommates thought I was “tone-deaf”. I can’t blame them either for saying that since I would blast my speakers even though I still couldn’t tap out a consistent tempo or play anything on the grid.
After months of hard work, and help from them to make sure that I stayed consistent, “Just Jared Beats” was created and has now grown to over 12k total followers. By making a plan and using the resources I had I was able to achieve my goal and impress those who doubted me, which included myself.
Hidden Resources
Before I thought I needed to have all the resources in the world to get started, but it wasn’t until I used external accountability that I realized I didn’t need more resources at all…
I just had to become more resourceful to use the assets that I already had. In this case, it was my friends holding me to a high standard and making sure I did the work I said I would do.
If you have ever pushed back a release date then you can use this exact same method too. When I released my first drum pack I used the audience I had grown on social media to hold me accountable by telling them a release date so I had to then stick to it.
Find the hidden resources that you have to help gain accountability and propel you to reach your goals.
No Audience Needed
Although I used my audience as an example to hold myself responsible, I want to show you that it didn’t start out that way. We all start out in the same boat, with a big fat 0.
Sometimes having “no one” in the audience can also stop us from starting.
It can be tough to work so hard on a creative project only for it to fall on deaf ears. Thinking like this can again cause you to fall into the “horizon trap” of pushing the starting line back.
While the audience isn’t going to appear out of nowhere there is one little known tip that can help you overcome this cycle. Implementing it will have people so excited that they are going to be knocking at your door asking when your project is releasing.
See, most believe that they need an audience present to provide value. This is backwards though. You need to provide value first to be able to grow your audience and truly have the impact you desire.
Not having an audience is just an excuse to not pass on your knowledge to help out the few who will use it to start.
If you were a farmer, and you were supposed to feed ALL the cows on the pasture but only ONE came to you. Would you still feed him?
I’d hope your answer is a YES, I mean really who is so sinister that they wouldn’t help the cow out?
This is the same as you having a piece of information that you know will help thousands but only one person shows up. By providing that person with value and passing on what you have learned through your experience, they will grow too.
Not only that, but they might tell a friend too. Who then tells another friend, and another, and another…I think you get my point.
Again, you don’t need an audience to start. You start to get an audience.
The Real “Horizon”
Now that you have learned how to deal with that starting line, let’s talk briefly about the real “horizon” and the mental boundary I referred to earlier.
The only real horizons that exist are the ideals we impose upon ourselves. These can never be achieved, especially if those ideals were set through comparing ourselves to others. You will always find a new shiny object, a new carrot to chase, or another mile to run on the hedonic treadmill.
Instead of looking at the gap between you and the horizon line, look at the gains you’ve made from where you started since you now know how.
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