I just started working AGAIN on a book project that’s been whispering to me for years! I’ve written articles, essays and exchanged ideas about this subject with some of my past mentors and colleagues. I’ve been offered an amazing opportunity. If I have a manuscript of this book done by January 2014, it will be taken to a real publishing house by one of their best-selling authors, a past mentor of mine.

So, this is it! I’m taking all my essays, cartoons, writings, scribbled napkins, half-done chapters, emails about it and I’m doing it. I’m committing to finally finishing this book.

Whenever I embark on a BIG idea, I get really scared. I feel Resistance. Steven Pressfield in his book, The War of Art, uses a capital R. I think it should be all bolded, in caps, underlined and blood red.

When feeling overwhelmed, scared of a big goal, I’ve found the chunking method to work well.

Running in chunks

When I ran a marathon, I thought of each step, each 15 minute section, each block as one single chunk, one smaller piece to accomplish. I could always choose to stop after each chunk if it got too scary, right? But, as I passed and completed each chunk, however imperfectly – I always felt stronger and as if I could do just 1, 2 or maybe even 3 more chunks.

Conquering yourself

As an interesting parallel going on for me right now, one of my amazing stallions, Q, passed away last month. He was my “safety horse”. This means I trusted him completely and I was safe with him. In other words, I didn’t have to stretch to make him go through his paces. It was comfortable and easy. My horsemanship has actually suffered because I relied on him so much the last several years.

Now, he’s gone and I have an almost 4-year old, 1,100 pound infant of a feisty young stallion. I’ve been working with him slowly, almost daily to turn him into my next show horse. It isn’t comfortable, it doesn’t feel safe many times and if I want the end result, I must do it, no matter how much fear or Resistance comes into play.

Interestingly enough, his name is Conquisto, which translates to “I conquer”! Here’s to following your dreams and conquering yourself.