The Personal Development Dilemma Part 2: Publicly Announce Your Big Dreams or Keep Them To Yourself?

By Seamus Anthony

(Here’s the first in this series)

By Seamus Anthony

Do you secretly go for gold while publicly keeping your stated intentions down-to-Earth? And does this have any effect on your outcomes?

Here’s a scenario: you’re helping out an old friend or relative that you haven’t seen for a while, somebody who (thinks) they know you backwards when out comes the inevitable question:

“So … what are you up to these days then?”

I don’t know about you but I have long grown tired of being honest with those closest to me about these questions. And why? Because (God love ’em) most of my family and at least some of my best mates are unfortunately, mired down in the bog of life due to a lack of self-confidence. And while I don’t think they do it intentionally, they tend to try and drag everybody else down into the quicksand with them.

It was a bit different when I was younger, I used to let ’em have it: POW! Right between the eyes – here’s what I am going to do! How do you like them apples?

And I used to cop some flack too, but A) I was young and, frankly, full of myself so I didn’t care what they thought and B) they were still prepared to give me some benefit of the doubt.

But time has passed and at my age (35) men are supposed to be ‘sensible’ and ‘reliable’ and basically just bring home the bacon already and otherwise shut the hell up.

Yeah right… Believe me if I COULD be that normal and uncomplicated I would be but I is an entirely different beast. I am unconventional, problematic and basically a creatively-inspired fuck-up so let’s just forget about all this Mr. Steadfast palaver right here and now.

… Forgive me; I’m rambling … My point is…

DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE LETTING PEOPLE IN ON YOUR DREAMS?

These days I find it is better to keep my public announcements on the down-low. I prefer to let people in on my outrageous plans bit-by-bit so that they don’t freak out on me. This also allows me to change my strategy as I see fit, without having to wear the Doubting Legion’s accusations of inconsistency and megalomania. (Both of which I may well be guilty of … but that doesn’t mean I need my face rubbed in it!)

BUT sometimes I wonder if I should be a little more forthright, like I was in my early twenties. Time has taught me restraint and to be suspicious of letting too much information out into the light. I tend to play my cards close to my chest and this approach has served me well enough – but maybe it is also good to just stand up and state what you want so that others can help you get it.

In fact I know that this is the case. I certainly need to be more forthright about what I want in order to allow those I mix with to assist me – but frankly my goals are so ludicrous that I am still being cautious about it.

What I have decided to do, and I’d be interested to know your opinion on this strategy, is to publicly announce my plans very soon, not because I expect many people to give a shit but because I think it could be a good idea (on a personal level) for me to do so

I mentioned doing this in Part One of this series and I haven’t forgotten but to be honest, I am stalling on doing this out of fear of publicly failing. I’ve done that more than once and it’s not much fun, but still, I reckon that happened because I previously spent way too much time running off down side-alleys instead of remaining true to my deepest burning desires. I’ve come a long way to get back to the point where I have no intention of chasing anything other than my one Chief Definite Aim, my One Thing, and I feel it is time to share that with the world. I need to do so not out of ego but simply to free up the energy that has stagnated around my Dream and allow things to happen without the hindrances of fear and doubt.

But What About You?

Do you need speak up and let the world know what you REALLY want to do with your life?

Do you already freely and regularly enthrall the world with your big audacious plans?

Or do you keep your outrageous dreams stifled up inside like dirty little secret?

Feel free to come out of the closet in the comments section below; it might give me confidence to do the same!

Photo by a4gpa

Hi, I'm Seamus Anthony. I am an author, artist and musician from Australia. Here at Rebel Zen, I document my journey as an creative artist and human and in doing so, hopefully help you in your own progress through your life of creativity. Go get your free E-book by me: "Taming The Monkey Mind".

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