consisteny
Baby steps…
Growing up I played for a high school hockey team. We were the Lone Wolves — a great pack of lonely wolves if you can imagine. I was struggling with fundamental skills of the sport — particularly stick handling and shooting the puck. I wasn’t completely useless, as I could skate fast, maneuver well, and win face-offs. So I had potential, and I just needed to act on it, but how?
My coach took notice, and he asked me one day “Peyton, how would one eat an elephant?” Totally clueless at where this was going, I simply responded with “how?” drumroll please *boom kakakakaka BOOM kakakakakaka ka ka Ka KA.* “One bite at a time.” Now if I could go back and shake the younger version of me, probably even beat the little entitled turd senseless until he heeded those words, I would! Those words were so valuable at the time, they still are with me to this very day!
You see, the elephant is the big kahuna, your dream, your ambition! You simply cannot take it all on in a single sitting, not a single day, not even a week. It is so daunting to see the elephant in front of you. There is no way that I am going to be able to eat THAT! But maybe, just maybe I can, so long as I eat just one bite at a time, ye even one bite a day! I might be able to eat the whole elephant. Back then it was about practicing monotonous things, stick handling and shooting the puck. The elephant was scoring goals, and outmaneuvering defenders with the puck in play. The small bites was the 30 minutes a day of monotonous stick handling and shooting practice at home. ADHD young monkey brain Peyton did none of these things, as he favored snacking while playing video games and binge watching content during all his free time.
Fast forward almost 10 years and here I am, a blogger, entrepreneur, music producer, content creator, and chemist. Alphabet soup and f——— all!
What am I really? I am a creative person, and I have big dreams and ambitions. I am heeding the wise words of my coach from high school now, and I am simply being present for the things I care about. I won’t become a multimillionaire success overnight, but I can start today by achieving daily goals broken down from big ones. Write a whole song, but start with an 8 bar loop. Patch 50 synths, but start with one. Record 100 one-shots and 100 loops, but start with one. Release an EP, but start by releasing one song.
Before you take on the elephant, cut it up into bite sized pieces.