4 Simple Steps to a Achieve a Scary Goal
Have you ever had an impression to do something that scares you? Today I share the ICAN steps to help you overcome fear and reach your goal. (Plus you get a sneak preview of my new song, Don't Give Up.)
What do you do when an intriguing but scary idea pops into your head, and you're pretty sure God wants you to take some action?
4 Simple Steps to a Achieve a Scary Goal
Let me introduce the acronym ICAN to help you remember 4 simple steps.
Impression/Inspiration
Communicate with God
Act on baby steps
Navigate continuously until you reach your goal
The Project I've Been Working for 1 and 1/2 years
To show you how I have used the ICAN method, I am giving my podcasting audience the first peek at a new song I have felt God prompting me to share for the past couple of years. This project scares me and excites me all at the same time.
The problem: I knew absolutely NOTHING about producing a song professionally even though I have been writing music since I was a teenager.
My New Song: Don't Give Up
I was so inspired by Nina's story of sharing her very personal music this past week. After the podcast recording was over, she and I sat and chatted about I, like her, felt God nudging me to share my music as well.
I was very candid and had some open conversations with God--like, what the heck? One more thing to learn? Wasn't podcasting and writing a book enough?
But, with a LOT of help from some amazing people, I have navigated this scary new arena with success and am please to share my new song, Don't Give Up.
#tamarakanderson #storiesofhopeinhardtimes #podcast #hope #God #hardtimes #newsong #sneakpeek #musicpreview #goals #keepgoing #dontgiveup #moveforward #progress #fear #overcome
Transcription
You can find the transcription of today's episode here:
0:03
Have you ever had an impression to do something that really scared you? It can be something big, it might be something small. Whatever it is, I'm going to share with you four, easy to remember steps that you can use to help you reach your goal. Plus, I'm going to share with you what I've been working on for the last year and a half as kind of a bonus at the end. Stay tuned.
0:33
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times, all with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson, join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
0:58
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Stories of Hope in Hard Times podcast. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. And on today's episode, I have something really fun I'm going to do with you. But first, I want you to imagine that you're kind of going through life. And things are going pretty good. When out of the blue, a little thought pops into your head, that you should do something. And it's something maybe you don't know anything about. And because you don't know anything about it, it kind of scares you. Have you ever had that happen to you before, where you kind of push it away, and it just keeps popping back into your head, you should do this, you should do this. Kind of like a persistent, nagging mom or friend or older sibling.
1:49
So guys, if you've ever had this happen, maybe God is trying to inspire you to do something. And often the steps God wants us to take are scary and hard because we haven't done them before. It's something that's going to make a stretch something that's going to make us grow. And sometimes, we're not sure we want to do that. So if you've ever felt that way, and you felt scared by a persistent thought that you're like, I should do this, I should do this, you are not alone. And this podcast today is for you.
2:21
So what do you do? Obviously, you can act on it or ignore it, some people do. act on it, some people ignore it. And it's ultimately your choice. But I'm going to talk to you today about four simple steps that help us move forward from the point of Okay, this scares me to death, to Hey, maybe I can do this after all. And these are things that I've employed several, several, several times in my life. And that Nina, who we listened to last week has also used in her life. And we'll talk about that a little bit later.
2:57
So the first thing I want to teach you is this, ICAN method. And so I just want you to picture the word ICAN. ICAN those. That's the acronym we're going to use today. four steps.
3:13
ICAN first thing. One, you get the impression. All right, the idea pops into your head. Now, Napoleon Hill has a really great quote. And he said, "whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." So when inspiration strikes, maybe it is something you think I am not capable of doing that. You might not be. But if you took baby steps towards it, you might achieve it. You never know.
3:48
Let me let me just brainstorm here with you for a minute. Pretend you have the thought that you want to do a painting for your house, a painting that you can hang on the wall. Now, maybe it's something totally impressionistic. Whatever you imagine this can be like, you can figure it out, you can dream it up. You might need to take some art lessons, you might need to watch some YouTube videos, but breaking it down into baby steps. Well, I want it to have these colors and what would it be? Would it be a flower? Is it a landscape scene? Whatever it is, you envision what you want it to be just like Napoleon Hill said, "If you can dream it, you can achieve it." And then think about it. Imagine-- it so the first thing is receiving the inspiration and not saying no. Okay. Just let yourself imagine it hanging on your wall. Imagine you looking at it. What would it look like what the colors evoke in you what the scene look like? Imagine it that's the first step.
4:54
The second step is communicate with God. Now, God is the great Creator. And as His children, we are creators in embryos. So whatever we can conceive we can create with His help. And if we're struggling at all, if we're fighting against the idea or impression or thinking, I can't do it, He is the best person to talk to you. So the first one is impression. Second one is communicate with God. There's a great verse in Psalm five, one through three. And then I'm going to read one additional verse where the psalmist says, "Give ear to my words overboard, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God. For unto thee will I pray. My voice, shalt thou hear in the morning, oh, Lord. In the morning, will I direct my prayer to thee and we'll look up." then skip to verse eight, "Lead me, oh Lord, in my righteousness because of mine enemies." Now, here we have David talking to the Lord. He's meditating about something, he's praying, and he's crying unto him.
6:05
Sometimes the ideas we get are scary. Sometimes we have to pray against our enemies, sometimes our enemies are is, is within us, that our own selves, we've got a lot of negative self talk going on. And so the important thing when we're talking to God is to be 100%, open and honest, God, I got this thought that I should do this, write a book, start a podcast, put a painting on the wall that I've done... I want to start this business. I want to teach my child how to do sign language, I want to start a youth program at my church, whatever it is that you're dreaming up, you can make a difference. And God is going to inspire each of us to do different things, because we each have different talents.
6:55
And so when you're communicating with God, give him all your concerns, give them all to Him. And then listen for ideas and answers. God doesn't always give us the big picture in the end. Sometimes he wants virus, okay, you need to do this. And it is a big picture item. But often He inspires us to take small steps. So when you're presenting God with, here's my challenges. If If, for example, we're going back to the painting example, God, I don't know who to talk to about painting. I don't know where to buy the stuff. I don't know what product to use, you know, start giving this to God. And maybe He'll give that to all remember your friend Susan, I've had that happen where I've had to go to God, I don't know where to start with this. And he'll inspire me who in my friends or associates I need to talk to, and they can give me a better idea. Or you can post something on the internet. Hey, guys, are any of you artists out there? That are your friends? And one of them might answer and you can start talking to them.
7:59
So often ideas will come as we communicate with God. Or maybe we need to do a little bit of, okay, God, I'm going to watch a couple YouTubes on this. And I'm going to try to find some direction because looking for answers and listening for answers are the way God speak to us. Sometimes he speaks to us. Often he speaks to us through other people. And so we just need to listen.
8:25
This is also where you can talk to him about your fears. Because let's be honest, God often gives us things that are scary for us. And when we have scary things, it's often because we just don't know enough about it. And so as we talk to professionals or something like that, people who know more about it that will often help to relieve some of our fears or taking a tiny baby step in the right direction will often help relieve our fears or we can ask God to help us. God help me be brave to take these first steps because this is a really scary thing to me. And walk with your hand in His as as you go forward.
9:03
Okay, so we've got ICAN we have I which is inspiration C which is communicate with God. A A is the third step which is Act on baby steps. So Og Mandino, I was reading the book, the greatest salesman in the world this morning and one of the quotes from there just jumped out at me because I knew I was going to be talking about this today. He says,"Action alone is the tinder which ignites my dreams, my plans my goals into a living force. Action is the food and drink which will nourish my success." So action, taking steps. Action is the thing that moves us forward. It's propels this imagined idea into a living force as Og Mandino says it will lead us down the path to success. So you have to take action and action is often where most people drop out. They get these great good ideas, and they brainstorm about them. And then they don't do anything or they take the first two steps and they're like, this is too hard. I give up.
10:09
But in order to reach your goals, you can't do that. So act on one little baby step. And then next time act on another one, set goals, weekly goals, daily goals, monthly goals, your, your imagined dream can take place. Talk to someone, do some research, reach out to a mentor. I had a friend call me a couple of months ago, and he said, Hey, Tamara, will you be my mentor? And just kind of hold me accountable for this? Can I just call you like, once a month? And I said, Sure, absolutely. And so it's easy to reach out to people and just say, Hey, will you help me? Will you be my mentor, we hold me accountable? Because sometimes, when we go into goals, we give up if we don't have somebody who we need to report to so find somebody to report to.
10:59
One of the other quotes I wanted to share with you from that The Greatest Salesman by Og Mandino says this, "Action reduces the Lion of terror, to an ant, of equanimity." And equanimity. Think of the word equal of something that is even evenness of mind, especially under stress. So, action reduces this lion of terror. So if you're feeling a lot of terror, if you take even one baby step, it reduces the fear. And if you take another baby step, it reduces the fear even more, until your fear is just as big as an ant. What seemed like a lion can be like an ant, if you're brave enough to move forward. And you don't have to do it alone. You can have God by your side, you can mentor by your sight, but take those baby steps of action. And that is the biggest thing to help us conquer fear. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "You do not have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."
12:03
Okay. So ICAN-- inspiration, communicate with God, A is act on baby steps, and N the last one Navigate continuously toward your goal. So you've started taking baby steps. Navigating continuously is that forth step you got to keep moving. Confucius said, "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." And I love that. Sometimes goals take us a long time because we have so many things going on. I know for me, as a mom, a wife, and a podcaster, and author and all these other things have going on. It's hard for me to juggle things. And so goals sometimes take me a long time to reach. But as long as I'm still moving forward, that's the key. Sometimes, I'm going to tell you about something that took me a year and a half in just a second here.
13:02
If you reach an obstacle, this is where you go back to that communicate with God step reach an obstacle, talk to God, "God, I've reached this thing that I just can't seem to get around. What should I do about it?" And sometimes you have to move it over for a little bit. Back in the verse I shared in Psalm it talked about David praying in the morning. I've noticed that by give God a challenge or my subconscious a challenge to solve at night before I go to bed, that sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, my brain just--I know the answer. I know what to do. And sometimes it takes a couple of days for me to figure it out. But if we give challenges to God, often He'll help us figure them out and we can move forward. So don't let obstacles stop you sometimes you have to go around or shift, or go up, or down, or back you can get through it you can get by it. Religious influencer Lisa Turkhurst said, "Progress, just make progress. It's okay to have setbacks and the need for do overs. It's okay to draw a line in the sand and start over again. And again, just make sure you're moving the line forward. Move forward, take baby steps, then change will come and it will be good." Isn't that awesome? I love that quote.
14:27
Just keep going. Keep moving forward. And you will make progress on this dream, on this inspiration that you've got in your mind. And God can help you do it. That's the ICAN can method guys: inspiration, communicate with God, act and then navigate-- keep going forward navigate, navigate navigate.
14:48
Alright, so for an example of how I have been able to implement these steps, I'm going to get a little bit raw and personal with you about a journey that I've been on for the last year and a half And that is this thought that God gave me to start sharing my music. Guys, this thought is still really scary for me. But the reason I'm telling you about it is because I want you, my friend to hold me accountable for this, too. So today, I'm going to let you take a peek behind the scenes of a private conversation I had with our guests from last week, Nina Angela Lee. And if you didn't listen to her interview, she's talked about many, many amazing things. But one of the things she talked about was being a very, very private person and composing music for years. And finally, her husband and God started inspiring her that she needed to share these very, very personal songs with people. And as she said this,it was like she was talking directly to me. Have you ever had that happen?
15:59
And so, at the end of this episode, after we stopped recording for the podcast, she and I had this conversation that I'm going to now play for you. And it tells you a little bit of my journey. And I might interject a little bit here and there. So that you can see the ICAN method that I use just a little bit more easily. So here you go.
16:24
Okay, I am going to tell you this, because Heavenly Father was just kind of going, Hey, you! I've been a songwriter for years too and I've just kind of all kept them just like you just... so what you're telling your story, like she's talking to me. Then just last year and a half, I've just felt Him saying you need to start releasing some music. And He gave me a song I needed to work on. And so I have just, you know, it's that initial--One more thing. God, really? I've learned podcasting, I've learned writing. And now you want me to dive into the music? And at first I was just so overwhelmed, like I don't know who to even talk to. But one of my neighbors happened to seeing in Afterglow in the 80s. And so I had a good powwow with him. And he was able to point me at least in the right direction, walk this way, Tamara.
17:29
Okay, I'm going to pause really quick and jump in here again, and just give you a little bit more background on some of the process that I went through when I was talking to God as I was coming in that communicating phase. And that first idea when I was praying to God and said, God, I don't know who to talk to, he inspired me with two people. And one of them I told you about and the other was my kids piano teacher who has composed a whole bunch of music, and I did a powwow with each of them. And that gave me enough information to start moving forward. But some of the people they told me to contact I was having a really hard time contacting and finally I reached out to one of them. And I said I cannot get a studio to call me back. And this was in the middle of COVID. And so things were just a little more challenging. And so he reached out and was able to finally get somebody to talk to him. And he kind of introduced us and I was able to get in. So sometimes you reach obstacles, and you have to use the people you know, to help you get past these obstacles. That's kind of both the communicate, and then the action. Sometimes you're trying your best to take action, but you just need somebody else to step in. So you have to not be afraid to step out and act on some of these things. And now I'll let you keep listening to the recording here.
18:52
So I've been working with Jim Funk studios in North Salt Lake and we've gotten the music and the soundtrack recorded and the first song and I am. It's I recorded the vocals just this month, and I'm just kind of like bracing myself during the mixing process going. I have no idea what to do now.
19:15
Oh my gosh, that's so exciting. I'm so proud of you know,
19:20
So, I'm kind of at that cusp, where I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff going, now what?
19:30
And it will be a beautiful thing because Heavenly Father just moves things, and arranges things you just got to hold on for the ride.
19:39
I know and that's kind of what I feel like I'm like...gasp. Thank you for sharing your story, at least for me. I needed to hear that today. And and I do I just feel like I'm at another point where I'm like-- Here we go again, I don't know what I'm doing. And I know He does. So I've just got to trust that that next step into the darkness is putting me on the right next path. Or I'm still trying to figure out how it all meshes together, you know? But it's coming. It's coming.
20:24
Well, I'm excited to hear it.
20:27
Well, thank you. I'm, I'm excited and scared to death all at the same time.
20:36
I understand. And that that fear will not kill, you know.
20:43
I know, it's fun and exciting and scary all at the same time, as you well know. So yeah, I'm, I'm encouraged by your story, because I'm like, okay, if Nina can do it, I can do it.
20:56
It's true, it's true.
21:01
All right, guys, that's the end of the recording that I wanted to share with you. So as you can see, I had this goal. Actually, God gave me the goal, I probably could have lived the rest of my life without sharing any of my music with you guys. But I had this idea that I really, really wanted to share this song with, with you, my listeners, and that it would make a difference in your life. And so even though it was super scary to me, I really, and I battled it out with God via prayer for a little bit. He helped me know what steps to take, and it's taken me a year and a half, that kind of goes to down to that last step, keep navigating forward, keep moving forward. Because some of these things just take time. And it's just taking little steps. And some there were some weeks, I didn't do anything at all. And some weeks the ball was completely in the court of the studio, and I had to wait for them to say, finish mixing something or to be able to get a recording, maybe the guitarist there, or the drummer there or, you know, some things are completely out of my control. And so I just had to be flexible as I was navigating forward, because some things I just had to wait. And that's why it took so long.
22:19
So don't be discouraged if moving forward towards your goal takes time. Maybe it takes more time than you thought. Be patient, keep moving forward. And so I'm so excited that first ICAN I listened to the inspiration. That's the first step--I. C, communicated with God, I communicated with God through this entire process. There were obstacles I just could not have overcome on my own. A, act began taking steps I began taking steps and the more I learned about music and publishing a song professionally, it was still intimidating. But I met some amazing people to help me along the way. The guy, Jim Funk at funk studios that I've used is just so kind to work with. And I was able to really express where I was going with things and he was able to help them come make it sound beautiful. And so even though I was a novice, he worked with me as a novice, and we moved things forward. And so it really, really worked out. And then I just kept going. It took months and months and months to get everything to where it is.
23:33
And I am so excited to tell you that I actually have a finished product for you now. And the song I'm going to share with you the first verse in the chorus here on the podcast today. Because you are my listeners and I love you. And it's going to now be available on my website and please share it with friends because this is one of those songs that came directly from God. And I know He wants this song to get out to all of you it meant a lot to me working on it through the COVID pandemic because the theme is, "Don't Give Up." And and so I love the message of the song. Even though I'm still scared to put it out there, I am still honored to share it with you, my listeners as the first people who get to listen to this. So here it is. "Don't Give Up," the first verse in the chorus:
24:27
(Music playing) My Lord was so heavy, so heavy I broke. As I lay on the floor all alone. I'd cried all my tears, and raged all my fears, and now drained and empty I groaned. Where is the rainbow, 'cause this is my storm. I knew I just couldn't go on. Dear God come and save me, I want to give in. Then out of my darkness I seemed to hear Him. Don't give up, even though you've had enough. Someday you will understand that you're part of God's great plan. So, don't give up, even though it's really tough. You hang on. You are enough. God loves you. You are His child.
26:21
What did you think guys? Did you like it? I hope you did. I hope you did. I hope you share with friends. Share this podcast with friends you can share where they can find it on my website, just go to TamarakAnderson.com and go to the store and that is where we will have a place where you can download the music. And also buy the sheet music if you want it. And the recording track if you want to sing along with it, that's there too.
26:51
So that is my journey. And my promise to you is that you too can use this ICAN-- these four simple steps to move you forward and achieve any goal that you receive as inspiration. So get your inspiration, communicate with God, act on it and navigate forward, and you too, will achieve your dreams. Thanks for listening. Hope on.
27:17
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you'd like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website storiesofhopepodcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show, the transcript, and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you are struggling with hope to carry on and with the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, remember God loves you.