Recently listened to a podcast where they went in depth about the career of an African photographer Paul Ninson . It was on The Chase Jarvis Live Podcast & it was incredible to hear his story and his determination to get the things he wanted most out of life and how he relentlessly chased after them . There was one thing that I really resonated with when I was listening to it while prepping my beef stroganoff slow cooker recipe for dinner ( Don’t add cognac into a slow cooker unless you know what your doing ) . There was one part of the podcast where Paul and Chase were discussing what kept Paul going through all the hardships and criticism while he embarked on his career. Everything from friends to collogues saying that the career path he was on wasn’t a good choice. He said something along the lines of “ If you know who you are , where you’ve been , and where your going . Nothing anyone says will slow you down. “
As I was cooking and I heard that I gave a solid imaginary fist bump and AMEN BROTHER to him . I can’t agree with that statement more. Those 3 things are really such a key component to becoming successful in any life endeavor . However the caveat IS that you MUST take the time to figure those 3 things out for yourself . Doing so requires a incredible amount of introspection , discovery , and time to do . It’s not something that can you can come up with overnight and your good to go. It’s something that you got to take the time to dig deep into your being and figure out . I personally connected a lot to what he said because I’ve been through that process of figuring out the answer to those 3 questions . Who am I? Where have I been ? Where am I going? . Now even once you figure out the answer to those questions it will still be an ever evolving process and the answers to those questions might evolve and change and shift based on the experiences you have and people you interact with on your journey. Even if the thing your pursuing right now isn’t the thing you see yourself doing for the rest of your life , you HONE INTO your vision and get closer and closer to the answer . Much like penny spinning on one of those donation machines where it spirals around the hole for a minute or so.
Personally it took me almost 3-4 years of development to find out my trajectory and commit to it. It started the moment I committed to living life on my own terms instead of on the whims and expectations of others. The moment I decided to leave university and pursue something that I felt personally connected to was the moment I made a step towards where I am now. Much like an artist creating a work on a canvas there are countless corrections and adjustments made along the way . Each and every correction reveals something that could be better , or something to avoid . There are no wrong choices when creating a work of art. Just moments of awareness and readjustment . Consistently repeat that over a length of time while anchored to a vision of the future , eventually you will reach the end and you’ll end up where you wanted to be with many things learned which you can leverage and use to make the next project or endeavor even better. This cycle repeats over and over , to produce the masters and experts that we see today . Everything from doctors , entrepreneurs , craftsmen , and everything in between. What matters is that you build a body of work that gets your closer and closer to you ambitions and vision. So with that being said keep that in mind and life will show you the way.
Stay Humble , Stay Blessed