If we want to tell ourselves the truth, we are not always going to be in the mood. Sometimes we rise and don’t feel like doing anything.
One of the world’s best expert on time management, Brian Tracy, gives a very simplistic version of self-discipline — whether you are an artist or professional. He says it is the ability to do what you need to do whether you feel like it or not. Successful people make a habit of doing what unsuccessful people don’t like doing. The next question becomes, “What do unsuccessful people not like doing?” And it’s the same answer. It is exactly the same thing successful people do not like to do as well.
Do you like waking up in the morning and running to work? Do you like staying up all night working on a project? Do you like editing a script or video clip? Do you like exercising and sweating like a Christmas goat? No, but we know that these are the ways we must often exert ourselves to get the best out of our lives.
For creatives, it is essential not to be alone. It is important to have an accountability partner. Someone to make you stay disciplined. This person could either be a friend, spouse, boss, colleague or a neighbour that knows about your goals and how important they are to you. And their principal role in your life is to ensure you don’t slack off. Achieving goals requires endurance, consistency, motivation and many more. You need more than yourself if you are going to achieve the heights you aim for. Accountability partners are necessary because they are usually important people in our lives we don’t want to disappoint.
Have you written that script? Have you written that article? Have you produced that song? Have you drafted that proposal?
At home the question is more like: Have you washed your clothes? Have you made the bed? Have you bought soup ingredients? But it is important to have a partner who knows your potential and checks up on you, because they want you to succeed.
The journey to success in your field is filled with twists and turns that often lead to demotivation and procrastination. I will conclude with three quotes. Two from the bible. ‘It is not good for the man to continue by himself or to be alone’ and ‘Two heads are better than one’. The third quote is from Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’. I remember this line from Onyeka Onwenu when she played Abigail Obiagu: ‘A second hand always helps.’
