Ready Set Check-off
The past 5 years or so have been hugely successful for cleaning up my life-long check-list. For example:
- Learn to play the guitar
- Write a song
- Get my amateur radio license
- Learn a second language
- Programmed professionally (this one goes back a bit more than 5 years, but it’s still a biggie)
There are a couple other things which are less goal oriented and more about habits.
- Personal budgeting/accounting
- Caring for a pet
I’ve realized a subtle shift in perception. I’d tried to do all of these things at various points throughout my life, reaching back into adolescence for some of them. They defied all efforts.
There was no way that I could have studied for and passed my ham radio license before I did it last year. That’s clear to me now. Each year that passes lends capacity to qualities I needed to accomplish these things. Each year added a few points of patience, a few points of focus ability, a few points of organization, a few points of fiscal stability, etc.
It’s a bit trite to say that you aren’t ready for something until you are, but that’s the vision my hindsight offers me.
All that is not to say that you shouldn’t try. I wouldn’t have studied for my ham radio license if I hadn’t tried it all throughout my teen years. I wouldn’t have written a song if I hadn’t tried writing lyrics from a young age. I wouldn’t have clambered into a career in programming if I hadn’t tried to learn for so long.
So try. Try to do anything your heart or head tells you to, but don’t fret if you don’t get it right away. You are constantly changing, constantly improving, and that makes every attempt unique.