The last few weeks have been interesting. I have had a couple of the therapists I supervise approach me with the question “what did you do after you got licensed”. What I found interesting about the question is that now that they are licensed or getting close to it they believe there is something that will change. This is of course the mistake that most of us make from time to time. While working towards one goal or waiting for one event to happen we forget that it is never one event that leads us to living the life we want. Yes, getting licensed, getting a degree, a promotion, married, or whatever event/goal you are waiting for will provide new opportunities – but those opportunities will be there in proportion to the things you have been doing while you have been waiting.
While I was working to get licensed I took creative writing classes with a 10 minute performance on stage at the end of it and regularly went to open mics. I also developed my confidence through Capoeira classes. And professionally, without prompting I began to provide community workshops on mental health and interventions for children with disruptive behavior as outreach for my organization. As a result even before I got my license my director at the time created a position for me that had not previously existed.
Once I got licensed I began to write books, do interactive story-telling workshops, and then began doing mastermind groups for my friends. From one of those mastermind groups I developed a connection that provided me opportunities to do workshops over the next three years in Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, California, and North Carolina.
But it wasn’t about being licensed. It was always about doing the things that I loved to do that also provided solutions for the people around me – and taking action on it even when I’m tired. So if you are reading this I want to encourage you to live the life you want five years from now. Don’t wait. Opportunities to do the things you love come to the people who are already doing them. I have spent years providing free workshops – and the result has been that now when I do workshops I have opportunities to get paid up to $2000 a day. In the grand scheme of workshops, this isn’t that much, but it’s $2,000 dollars more for me doing something I love to do than I was getting paid 10 years ago when I started doing the workshops for free. The best part about it is that I still would the workshops I do for free. Sometimes I still do. And when I do, I know that opportunities will continue to show up – because I’m already living the life I want in five years. Maybe only 10% of the time, but I know that time will only increase as I keep my attention on building the story I want to live into.
What story do you want to live into?
Be the difference for your own life and start living it right now.