They say they want something to happen. They’re passionate about what they want to do. They tell me they have the qualifications, maybe the experience as well - and they certainly have the desire.

I can remember, back in the day, when I lived and breathed dog training. ALL the time!

I couldn’t get enough.

I competed at a high level with my dogs, got loads of rosettes, certificates, titles.

I went to every seminar available, I read all the books.

So last week I was talking about the deflation you can feel when you have this fantastic, brilliant, world-changing, idea … and you don’t know how to even start.

Check out the important first and second steps from last week, and jump into your third step here!

I have to confess that I used to sit waiting for inspiration.

I was busy all the time, doing this, doing that … and I expected the muse to appear, tap me on the shoulder, and say, “Excuse me, but were you wanting a shaft of light?”

Now I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I started out on this path, I thought I could do it alone.

I’d got the qualifications - I worked really hard! - to get high grades so I could feel confident that I knew what I was talking about and like with so many dog training programs, I learnt loads about how to train a dog.

I have a confession to make.

I was interested in training dogs for years.

I competed at a high level with my dogs for years.

I even made up a couple of Champions.

Is that True or False?

I floated this question in the my private group Creativity Central recently and got ZERO response.

Now either I worded it too obscurely for it to be understood or nobody agreed with me,Or could see any sense in the statement.

We were looking at the kind of nonsense we take seriously when we’re deciding to follow our passion.

Thoughts of insufficiency, and worse - implied criticism or disrespect from those who should be supporting us!

So what should we be saying instead of “I’m a failure”?

Do you see things as PROBLEMS?

Or do you see OPPORTUNITIES

You see - they’re the same thing! And it’s all in the way you look at it

I was talking to someone recently who told me they had LOADS of ideas. They had even started to work out a plan to get them where they wanted to be but they would start the day all enthusiastic then come down with a crash when they realised they didn’t know what to do!

I am eternally curious. Think of the 4 year old child who drives everyone mad with endless WHYs. whywhywhy, but Mummy WHY? And somehow I never grew out of that! Whywhywhy is a constant cry of mine.

If all the people who’ve invented things discovered things made our lives better had listened to their inner voice telling them they couldn’t do it we’d still be living in caves! So challenge those thoughts they are NOT gospel! They’re there to hold you back keep you safe - who knows what dangers are out there?

Imagine how the game would go if there weren’t any!

22 people, running about aimlessly, kicking a ball here or there. Nothing happening. No drama. No joy. No regret.

Just running about kicking a ball.

There was a time - another life, it seems! - when I was in a job I hated. It was demeaning the people I had to rub shoulders with daily were not the sort of people I wanted to spend my time with.

And yet … how many of us are caught up in some sort of Puritan work ethic that means we must not enjoy ourselves?

That enjoying ourselves is somehow self-serving?

As a busy friend of mine once put it, talking about running her farm and her young family, “Some days I meet myself coming back!”

According to a recent YouGov poll - YouGov is a British data analytics company - 57% of British workers want to be able to work from home after the pandemic.

What they’re saying is that the men seem to have the self-confidence that they feel they’re lacking. The men’s ideas are considered more important.

Now, this is not a man-bashing session - far from it. We all have to work or live with people of both sexes. So we need to learn a bit about what makes them tick!