Shortening the Gaps

“Gaps, it’s all about shortening the gaps” - an unnamed professor once told me. I started to realize what he meant once I really took the jump to running my own personal design business. Gaps, you ask? What are gaps? Gaps are the time between your personal successes. When you are a young person, your life presents you with plenty of opportunities to achieve success. Society defines success different for young people. Graduations, proms, sports teams, and academics are all examples of ways to win. Regardless, the opportunities presented for success as a younger person are much more abundant.

One month you are reading an acceptance letter, the next month you are graduating high school. We are programmed at a young age to experience success. When things are going great, the gaps are small. I’ve found that as I approach my 33rd year on this planet in a few months, the gaps can sometimes get larger. The larger these gaps become in your life and your career, the more your light will die out. I think about gaps a lot in my life. I’ve gone through a few gaps recently, and this way of thinking has really helped me. Here are a few different ways we can shorten the gaps.

First, think about ways you can create your own successes when they’re not lined up for you. For example, when my opportunities were limited creatively, I focused solely on creating new projects and presenting myself in a new way. I launched a new blog. I shortened the gap, and I created my own personal achievement. Human beings by nature, thrive off of HOPE. The more action you can take on a daily basis, even the smallest things, shorten those gaps, and restore hope in what you’re doing.

Second, try, and I mean try (this approach isn’t for everyone), plotting out a real plan for the way to reach your goal. Plot out each step every day, specifying each way that you think you can get there. Take each day’s tasks and work through them. Just by creating that plan, you’ve effectively ENDED your gap. The start to your new gap begins with, “Today I celebrated the start of my next goal”. Let your dimming light be restored with a new challenge.

Another thing, let yourself have some wins. We live in such a time where everything everyone does is under such a massive microscope. You don’t realize how much courage, and faith it takes to try to support yourself through your craft. Just showing up every day shortens the gaps. So whatever you do, keep plugging away, shorten those gaps through constant effort, and don’t let the light go out! 

This is the very first post on my blog. I’m working on sending and sharing more but I wanted to start somewhere.