When she was four, my younger daughter tossed a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome and wished for ‘pointe shoes’. She hadn’t even begun ballet lessons at that stage, but she was focused on her dream and could clearly picture herself dancing.
Eight years, hundreds of lessons, seven exam grades and thousands of dollars later – the Trevi Fountain delivered on her wish this weekend. Not since Cinderella has there been so much excitement over one pair of shoes.
Watching my twelve-year-old hobble around in them amidst the piles of lego and Thomas the Tank Engine tracks in the lounge room (it will be a while before she can dance ‘en pointe’ with finesse – particularly with a toddler shadowing her every move) I realised several things:
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It’s one thing having a dream or making a wish, but making it happen involves dedication, hard work and being resilient through those times when it’s hard or boring and you want to give up. We don’t get where we want to be through the wave of a magic wand, or the toss of a coin into a fountain. We get there through our own hard slog and persistence.
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Sometimes what seems like your end goal is really only the beginning. The harder work lies beyond this point, and reaching the first milestone injects some energy.
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Motivation doesn’t last – it’s merely a short-term burst of energy. It won’t see you through long enough to excel at something. What we need for true growth and progress is the slow burn of inspiration – that dream and desire and ‘can’t-stop-thinking-about-it’ passion that leads you to ‘spend your one wish’ on this.
In your own life, think about this – whether it’s career or personal:
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Are you fuelled by true inspiration, giving your goal all you’ve got, no matter how many years it takes and how many ‘downs’ you have, where you’re tempted to quit? You know the hard work is tiring but it’s worth it and in your heart you know you’ll get there one day – even if that’s eight years from now.
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Or are you on a certain path, and working hard, but your heart isn’t really in it? The inspiration is almost snuffed out, or was never really there in the first place and, standing at the Trevi Fountain, you doubt you’d waste your coin on this pursuit. There’s not a big enough ‘why’.
I meet two kinds of people in my work:
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Those who are on the right path, and finding it hard.
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Those who are not yet on the right path, and finding it hard.
I’ve been on both paths, and have learned that I'll get blisters on my toes and sore ankles and fall over many times before I can do what I'm doing with grace on either path – but at the end of the day, it’s only worth the struggle if I'm heading in the same direction as my heart…
This article was originally published at worklifebliss and has been republished with full permission. Emma Grey is a Life Balance specialist. Through a suite of innovative concepts and tools, Emma offers organisations and individuals practical solutions to the modern challenge of ‘having it all’. She is a mother of three and has two step-children. When she can sneak the time – she’s writing a vampire-free novel for young adults.
