Recently, my friend Laramie Williams approached me for advice on how to follow his dreams.

While I wouldn't consider myself the highest authority in the land, this got me thinking and I wanted to tell my story about how I went about pursuing and eventually achieving my dreams.

I have always wanted to be a musician, but when I began my road towards my dream (1993), I was deeply in debt. In order to free myself from that, I had to make some hard sacrifices. Upon finishing college I moved in with my brother, and lived Harry Potter-style in the alcove under the stairs. I didn’t pay rent, and put down as much as I was able on every bill that came in. Apart from food, I spent money on practically nothing else for well over a year.

While I was sequestered away, I became laser focused on creating music – nothing else was really given any time in my life. Prior to this, I’d pursued other activities like ballroom dancing, but in order to foster my one primary passion, I put aside everything to pursue excellence.

Even with this laser focus, it took years before I was able to make a dent in the industry. I managed a band (Plow Monday), and founded another (Breastfed), and eventually got my own apartment. Even after getting out of debt, I remained solely focused on my goal to produce music. There were other related activities that I dipped into now and then, like producing The Bard’s Crier, a newsletter about music production. In order to remain dedicated to my craft, I ended up dropping the related activities as well.

Even with all of this focus and dedicating myself wholly to my dream, it wasn’t until 2005 that I was able to quit my fulltime job and become a professional musician.

The steps towards my success:

• Define your goal and zoom in on it.
  • You have to define what your goal is and set your sights on it. If you want to be a superstar, work towards that. If you want to do what I do, and enjoy a life as a musician and have folks appreciate your music, focus on that. But most important is defining what it is that you want.
• Keep the focus.
  • If you go out and get too multi-faceted, you can get pulled into another direction off your path, and suddenly end up in a completely different place than you intended. You can learn different aspects of the trade, but what you spend your time on can change the course of your career. What is it that you need to do to achieve your dreams? Take those steps!

For myself, I wish I had had a more defined target. I zoomed in on my dreams slowly, but taking too much time to really define what your goals are can stall you and eventually hurt your progress.

These days, I have a lot less focus on just “the one thing”, because I have a family. That was ultimately another goal of mine, and because of my earlier years of laser focus (working 12-14hr days, every day), I am able to spend less time on my work and more time on the other things that are important to me.

And even though I don't have as much time just for work, that time is dedicated, very focused, and really productive now.

Put in the time to get your dream to become a reality, and later on, you'll be able to enjoy your main dream while also nurturing other, newer dreams.

To subscribe, go to iTunes, or go to Celtfather.com where you can also join my mailing list. This show is sponsored by my Patrons at marcgunn.net. Your generous monthly donation feeds a human family of three and half plus three cats. Post feedback in the shownotes, use the hashtag #celtfather on social media, or email me marc@marcgunn.com

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