Written by Anthony Meindl
Things take time. That’s the way it is. Careers aren’t made overnight. Insight doesn’t come without forging forward. Gains aren’t made without trying.
In the pursuance of our desires, we often make what’s in the way, the way. Which isn’t the way at all: we focus on what isn’t working in our lives. We talk about what we’re not getting. We complain to our friends. We compare and despair. We doubt and second-guess.
Most of the thoughts we have about the things we want in life run contrary to the actual things we want. You want a boyfriend but talk about all the douchebags out there. You want your artwork to be shown in a gallery but complain about all the gallery owners who won’t consign your work.
To get on your path, all it takes is focusing on what you do want and then taking a simple step in that direction.
Take the step.
All the great teachers say the same thing. Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Emerson said, “Move confidently in the direction of your dreams.”
There’s actual movement in these directives. Action.
Thinking about the way doesn’t get you closer to your way. Inertia doesn’t get you closer to your goal. People sit around and talk about the things they are going to do when they get more money, or get into better shape or have a good agent. Those times never occur. It never occurs the way we think it’s going to look. So you’re waiting for an illusion to give you the permission to take action. And then you never do.
Time wasted.
You don’t have to concern yourself with the details. The details are in the doing. The action step actually ushers in a whole confluence of events and experiences and people and information and connections that you don’t have access to until you take the step.
Stop worrying about the small steps along the way: the rejections, the denials, the failures, the obstacles, the setbacks.
The small steps are contained within the larger step. We need them to get to where we’re going. They’re necessary. We make them in the way because we believe they’re not supposed to be there. We see success as this perfect-looking picture. The end result. We forget that the rejections, the negations, the oppositions are part of what create the picture of success in the first place.
So Just. Take. The. Step.
Nothing is in the way. The things we think are in the way are nothing but semi-permeable roadblocks that are made to crumble around you once you step through.
So put on your best pair of walking shoes and step onwards and upwards.
Anthony Meindl is an award-winning writer, producer, director and actor whose first feature screenplay, THE WONDER GIRLS, was the Grand Prize Winning Feature Screenplay in the Slamdance Film Festival Screenplay Competition in 2007. Prior to this accomplishment, Meindl was responsible for the production of an array of award-winning projects. His background in acting, training, and performance has afforded him the opportunity to create what has become a thriving artist community in Los Angeles.
Check out Anthony’s book, At Left Brain, Right Turn
