Announcements.
Goals are a You vs You type of game and no matter who you tell, that won’t change. Dante 8:9
If you’re one of those people that can make a big decision, hit GO, and never say a word to anyone about it, then close this article right now. You aren’t one of us. But if you’re one of those people that sets a goal, makes a plan, but HAS to announce it before you start to climb the mountain or you might die, then bring it in. Hug it out. We’re family now.
It’s so comfortable to announce a new plan or dream. It feels so good. You gather the people, or person, you care for most and you spill your entire soul on the coffee table as if they’re going to say “Yo…That’s a brilliant idea. You’re the chosen one and I’m 100% going to support your every move.” We act as if the decision to chase something is only valid if you tell someone. And even past that, we act as if the decision is the hardest part of accomplishing whatever goal. Truth: Nah, bruh. Absolutely nah. It’s about the action, boss.
Few weeks ago, I announced The Daily Dante, a plan to blog every single day in hopes of becoming That Boy over time. It felt great to have such a steep mountain to climb, as everything does at first. But as I began to put the work in, I realized wow this is fucking hard. Then, after a week, I fell off. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t writing or didn’t have any content for the people. The problem was that, after I wrote for a week, I realized that I’d prefer to take my time between articles to publish better content. But I couldn’t because I had already announced that I’d post every day so I felt this obligation to stay with the original plan.
And that’s exactly why announcements are stupid: you bind yourself to a contract with ghosts. By ghosts, I mean a hypothetical audience that’s probably not even tuning into your show. We announce our plans like all seven billion people in the world are going to say “YES! THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED! THANK YOU, BASED GOD!” I mean, sure, you may have a couple people that are checking for you, but unless you’re already established in whatever you’re trying to do, the majority doesn’t give a fuck. I’m sorry; they don’t. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but if you chase it with the fact that your idols started out in this same position then you can do it in one gulp.
So just pipe down and do your thing in silence. It may feel weird at first, and sometimes even lonely, but you’ll accomplish a lot more in the darkness. Trust me on this. I’ve made A LOT of unnecessary announcements in my time and they’ve never gotten me shit. Save yourself the time; learn from my mistakes. Hov did that so hopefully you won’t have to go through that.
