A Leap of Faith

I delivered a book today; my book about living life to the fullest; the one about following your dreams; the book that talks about lessons and gifts; starting and finishing.

I wanted to take this book to Jason Priest, owner and founder of Little Rock Jams, so that I could get a tour of his new studio that opened in August of last year.

I took guitar lessons from Jason for about a year and stopped before he made the move about a half-mile away to new digs. I was a true beginner, and never did progress very far. I determined that my money would be better spent elsewhere, but I could still pick around on my guitar at home.

Jason was a faithful reader of this blog, which was my book in progress, and now as you know has turned into more of a regular blog.

Jason started his first guitar studio as a solo teacher. He began this gig back in July 2006 when he had an opportunity to “early retire” from a telephone company job during one of the mergers or something similar to that. In other words, a window of opportunity happened and he moved with it.

So to know him when — back when he was just about to add a teacher besides himself and then he was looking for a bigger space to add more staff — to know him then and to see where his studio has progressed today was a treat.

He took a step of faith to do what he’s done; what he’s doing. Little Rock Jams is a studio in Breckenridge Village with instruction rooms and an awesome studio for concerts. He’s so busy that Jason’s taking on running the show and letting the other teachers handle most of the teaching.

Going from a one-man-show studio to having numerous teachers, including piano and voice, to what Jason has developed now didn’t happen without a lot of prayer, persistence, faith, determination and I’d guess blood, sweat and tears.

Life is about stepping out of our comfort zones in order to fulfill our dreams.

We rarely get anywhere in life without taking a leap of faith. If you’re one of the few who was handed everything on a seemingly silver platter, if life just comes easy and there’s never a struggle to achieve and get what you want, rejoice in that. Because for the rest of us what we have is what we earned.

We work hard, we pray a lot, we take two steps forward and one back, sometimes we even give up. But for the most part, when we truly want something, we go the distance, we don’t quit or give up, we just keep moving on.

And so the delivery of my book to Jason about living life to the fullest; the one about following your dreams; the book that talks about lessons and gifts; starting and finishing was one that could have been written about him.

He’s already asked to star in the movie, so we know he dreams big.

Jason Priest, congratulations, my friend. Thanks for all of your support as I wrote my book and today as you admired it in your studio. Thanks for living your life as a good example. I know your children are learning the right way to do things.

Visit LittleRockJams.com to sign up for your lessons today!

Conflict Produced

“A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having backbone.”
—Robert Kiyosaki

Sometimes people are so afraid to say no they make plans and promises without any intentions of keeping them. This in effect is worse than just saying no in the beginning. They do this to avoid conflict, but in the end the inability to be honest in itself causes more conflict than the simple no would have in the beginning.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying no to a request by another person unless it’s in a situation where we are employed and the task is part of our job, or our child asks us for help and we can give it, we ought to not deny that to them. But here we are talking about relationship issues with friends, love interests, partners, and even business associates.

We should not make plans to do something with or for another person if we don’t want to keep those plans. And if we are too afraid to say no up front, the worst thing to do is never contact them to break the plans. Just ignoring them and hoping they will go away so we can avoid confrontation does not do anyone any good. We will lose the friend and any respect they had for us.

Sometimes breaking plans is unavoidable. When this happens, we ought to be honest and let those involved know as soon as possible. Our integrity is at stake when we don’t do what we say we will do. Breaking plans occasionally because it cannot be helped is one thing, but lying about why we broke the plans or just disappearing without even breaking the engagement is cause for others to avoid us in the future.

And perhaps what we desire is for that person to go away, to not be a part of our life. This needs direct communication as well. Although face-to-face conversations are always best in relationships, there are times when this is not possible. Or sometimes we just are not able to do that, but there are easy ways to contact those we cannot face: phones, instant message, e-mails, and texting to name a few. Any of these ways is better than leaving someone waiting around to hear from us.

Letting someone know about broken plans is the right way to handle the situation.

Staying the Course

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
—Jason Priest

When we decide we want something or want to be able to do a new thing it’s difficult to have the patience to achieve it or to wait to get it. The quote above is something my guitar instructor has said to me several times in only a handful of lessons.

Yes, I want to know how to play now. But in order to start with zero knowledge and achieve a decent level of playing ability there is a lot of groundwork that goes into the learning process. It takes countless hours of practice playing scales and finger exercises, among other things, before one can even play a song.

As with many things in life though, it’s the long enduring journey rather than just deciding upon something and having it. Many times we give up before we get whatever it is we are trying to have.

Attending and graduating college is a good example of something that takes time and endurance. We take classes that we have no idea how they will help us with a particular job. A lot of it feels like a waste of time, but it’s just part of the deal. If nothing else, a college degree shows that a person can stick to something long enough to finish.

Most of what we have in life that means something to us took a lot of work and effort. It takes that in relationships, learning an instrument, getting a degree, building a house and numerous other situations. Things that come easy rarely give us a whole lot of pleasure or self worth.

Also to achieve the things we desire we must often compromise something else. If we want to get a degree, for instance, we may have to give up something that we enjoy while we attend classes and study. If we want to build a long-term relationship with someone we might have to give up certain things sometimes to spend time with that person. Just as with learning an instrument, relationships take patience and time.

If we truly want to achieve or have a particular thing we will do what it takes to do that. If we don’t care much one way or the other, it will show and eventually we’ll let the thing fall to the wayside. Most of us lead busy lives. Yet we want to do new things and stretch who we are. We may want to find someone to spend our life with, learn a new trade, or learn something for fun, like a musical instrument. Most likely that will take compromise. We have to decide if it’s worth giving up something else to fit in what we say we desire. If not, then we really don’t want it much.

If we really desire something we will compromise and do what it takes to have it.

It’s All in the Follow Through

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
—Zig Ziglar

In many sports, including golf, tennis, and basketball, the follow-through of the swing, serve or shot is taught as part of the move and just as important as any other part. As with sports, the follow through on what we say we will do is just as important as the idea.

Making a decision to do something and actually doing it are worlds apart. Starting and not finishing and never starting are both problems. And if we tell someone we will do something, it’s important that we do it, lest they lose confidence in our word.

If we say we’ll do something once and we can’t “follow through,” but we usually do, then it’s forgivable, but if it keeps happening over and over people will soon just never make plans with us or expect much from us.

Understandably we start things that we don’t finish. Sometimes things are just not meant for us to do, but to rarely follow through will get us nowhere quick. It’s progress not perfection just like everything else we do, especially if we’ve made it a habit to promise more than we can give.

No follow through will cause us to miss our shot.

It Really is OK to Say No

“Saying no can be the ultimate self-care.”
—Claudia Black

Many of us who have spent our lives trying to please others may find saying “no” a difficult thing. We may say it when we don’t feel like going out, or we may pass on yet another volunteer opportunity, or maybe we just don’t want one more assignment at work.

Sometimes we say no because we just have too much on our plate, even when we really would like to spend the day doing something fun or giving in some way. Sometimes we just need to fill back up before we can give anything because we’ve given until there’s nothing left.

We may even say no just to see if we can. People will pressure and guilt us into things very often that for some reason they need us to do even if it really doesn’t do anything for them. It doesn’t mean that we don’t love someone when we say no to them. It just means that we love ourselves enough to do what we need to take care of ourselves in that moment.

Falling into saying yes when we want to say no can be a codependent behavior. It’s definitely a people-pleasing behavior. Many times when we first begin to use the no word with those used to us saying yes we cringe awaiting their reaction. Often we don’t get much of a reaction and they just move on to someone else. Or they say something like, “Well, it’s your loss if you don’t do ___.” Maybe it is our loss. Maybe we did miss an opportunity for something. It’s still OK that we said no.

Sometimes it is ourselves we have to say no to. We learn that as we go too. And we are gentle with ourselves along the way. We may need to be patient and kind to those we say no to if they react in a negative way. We do what we need to do to take care of ourselves.

Saying yes when we mean no can become an unhealthy habit.

Persistent Determination

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
—Calvin Coolidge

No matter what we have going on in our lives we rarely get something we want that money cannot buy by simply saying we want it or by one single effort. We can’t give up on a dream just because it isn’t easy to get. It takes tenacity.

We might be trying to get clean and sober. Or we may want to start a new career. Maybe we are trying to make a sale or promote something. We could be depressed and are trying to do the simple things we have to do just to get by until it passes and we feel better. Again, it takes persistent determination and the unwillingness to give up in order to succeed.

Most of us can probably see many people in our lives that have done something that went beyond what anyone expected them to achieve. It could be someone raised in poverty who managed not only to get an education, but to go past that to achieve great things to help others who are being raised like they were.

Those people in this world who have been injured severely yet they don’t let lost limbs or scars keep them from success. Where it might take us a lot of effort, for them it takes a tenacious effort to do simple things, yet they go on to succeed way beyond what any of us could see them doing.

People who have been given a particular talent and are not using it need to remember that it was given to them for a reason. Sometimes we don’t know what that reason is, but it does have a purpose.

It may take tenacity to find the time to use that talent to help others if we don’t see how we can make a living with it, but life is not all about money. When we use the gifts we were given, we are rewarded in many ways, sometimes this may manifest as money or income, and others times it’s just the joy we receive in giving.

Whatever you attempt, remember to be tenacious and you will succeed.

Sticking to Commitments Makes Us Honorable

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”
—Unknown

It takes a strong person to stick to something they committed to doing when adversity strikes. Or maybe whatever it is just isn’t fun anymore. Sometimes people just are not able to commit to anything for very long.

Whether it’s a job, relationship, social organization, club, team, or even a personal commitment such as dieting, exercise, taking better care of our self; all of these things take a commitment to succeed. And if we give up when it’s not new or fun anymore, or when we see that we may just have set our goals a wee bit too high and we become disappointed, then we lose out on everything because we didn’t see it through.

We don’t have to be perfect. And setting goals high and not quite reaching them does not signal failure at all. Failure comes in quitting and giving up on the whole thing because it can’t be exactly the way we planned it. That’s black and white thinking. It’s thinking that keeps us from ever truly achieving our goals. And it gives others reason not to count on us in the future.

If you commit to something don’t give up until you’re finished.