I have been on a  creative binge, drawing people and backgrounds and I have loved every minute of it. After finishing my personal “30 Day Draw A Community Challenge” I am stuck. For a creative person “being yourself” may be simple but it’s not easy. During this process and after I asked, begged, affirmed and prayed for an answers.  What should I do with this work? What should I do next? What is my path?  Who you are and where you are at in life is reflected in your work. Nothing like having to write an article to bring my answer home. I believe we are more able to understand a lesson when we experience it for ourselves and this was just that type of occasion. I learned that I am in my own way.

Maybe you want to write a novel, or go back to school, make a movie, be an entrepreneur, be a millionaire, do something extraordinary; in other words to change your life. You want to change–but there is that something in the way. Is it motivation? We could all use more of that. Is it fear? We could all use less of that. Could it be self-respect, discipline, courage, self love?

The reality is that for many of us, the obstacle is not anything tangible, such as, it is not slavery, oppression, poverty or starvation. I can tell you what it is not–it is not someone else, something else, time or even money. We make happen what we make a priority. For many of us, the obstacle is ourselves. We are in our own way, and we do not even realize it. Isn’t it time you moved yourself up the list of things that are IMPORTANT.

You need a different approach. Today I share with you 6 ways to help you propel yourself forward.

Stop Over Analyzing.  Do not over-think it. Analyzing will only get you so far and then there comes a point when you just need to get busy, allow yourself to be fully in the moment and just do your best.

Be bold. Many people just stare on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to drag them into success. Being timid brings very little value when chasing your dreams. You need to take action and jump two feet in. Be bold. However, this does not mean be careless. You have to do your homework and analysis.  The most successful people have shown their boldness by waiting while everyone rushes an opportunity too early.  Study, prepare and assess, but know when it is time to stop analyzing, theorizing, practicing. Then make the decision to jump in or launch and just do it and do it big.

Let go of beliefs: “Who’s more foolish, the fool? Or the fool who follows him?” ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi. Beliefs keep you warm and comfortable, safe and secure, coddled and content, pampered and protected. Sometimes our beliefs are in alignment with the way the universe actually works, and sometimes (most of the time) they are not. Get out of your own way by giving yourself the adventure of an unsafe, uncomfortable, rule-breaking, dogma-questioning, authority-shattering life over a boring, law-abiding, kowtowing, humdrum life of comfort and safety. Transform your current worldview and beliefs into spiritual bad-assery.

Turn Up Your Motivation. Truth be told you do not have to wait for the motivation to start; you get the motivation after you start. You do not wait for some self-respect to start fixing your life; you get self-respect by fixing your life. You do not wait for your fulfilling to arrive by grace; you cultivate it by developing decisiveness, courage, integrity and ambition. The principle is always the same: Do not wait, just start.

Courage is Key. When it comes to achieving our goals in life, courage is the engine that determines how those goals flourish. When it comes to getting out of our own way; courage is everything.

Courage begins with nothing. It emerges when you know there are two options: do nothing, or do something. When you are waiting for motivation or inspiration or self-respect — you are hanging on to an illusion. Courage is what stops you waiting. You can start self-generating motivation, self-respect, virtue and discipline if you just embrace the courage to start.  Courage ensures you begin, and in doing so ensures everything else. That is why it is the source of everything else. Courage will generate the qualities you need, but nothing will generate courage except courage itself. Courage follows the same rules as everything else: Do not wait, just start. This may sound like a paradox, but it is really quite simple. It is a binary choice–act, or don’t act. The more you choose to act, the easier it becomes therefore  the more courageous you become. When you develop this habit of bold decisiveness, of courage–you are going to get out of your own way. You are not going to be stopping yourself from starting.  Courage is not fearlessness.  Courage is when you feel the fear, and do it anyway.

As soon as I came up with the concept for this article and had started looking for research, my answers came pouring in.  When ideas, information and inspiration rush in like this, I have to stop and write it all down. Two hours later I had my plan for the next two years. With answers, new art and a plan I am so excited about my future prospects.  I have become one of those people who cannot wait to get out of the bed in the morning.  Don’t wait; just start.

InJoy!