I bought a painting last week. The painter is a musician out of Des Moines. I’ve been listening to him for years - his music is really awesome (like a James Taylor, but more folky) and his paintings are really cool. This is who I want to be when I grow up. I think we all possess a bit of talent and a bit of ability but what we lack is confidence.
Someone sent me this article yesterday. What I took from it (not that it necessarily said this exactly) was that our first inclination at a solution is usually right on. A lot of times we tend to modify and fact check and look for other ways to validate our original solution and we end up taking too much time and the “magic hour” has passed and our opportunity is lost. So - my personal analysis - if we have the confidence to go with our original perspective, chances are we will be both right and the first one to the picnic. Saying yes or no, right away (based on your intuition) is usually not a bad thing.
Back to art and music. I’ve been following this trainer, her name is Christine and she is a 47 year old bike athlete. She is confident and strong and somewhat mean. Regardless of how she comes across - she has a motto “I am, I can, I will, I do”. Very confident and grounding. (Maybe she’s not mean; stern and strong and she scares me a bit.) She coaches by example. She points to her “thunder thighs” (her words) and says this is hard work. This is what allows me to ride hard and be a successful athlete. She uses what some may think as a weakness and makes it her strength. She does because she believes.
From today on -- trust your instinct. Find your inner athlete and your inner artist and let them shine. Maybe what you produce won’t be world class all at once, but with proper nourishment (confidence and hard work and listening to your inner voice) you will see success.
