Even after we have admitted to ourselves what we want to do in life, we often find ourselves paralyzed from taking action to actually achieve the goals we have articulated. It’s easy to keep yourself occupied in pursuits related to what you are interested in but that are not actually producing any tangible results that get you closer to your dreams. You can easily end up spinning your wheels and not moving forward at all. For the past year, I have been saying that my long-term goal is to be a self-help writer, talk show host, and filmmaker. I’ve made some great progress in getting closer to my writing goal by launching my blog, writing for Harvard’s newspaper, and writing a book proposal on dating.

On the other hand, I passed by a lot of other opportunities that may have put me closer to all three of my goals on a daily basis. I thought that instead of jumping into the world of media and entertainment as an unpaid apprentice, I could network my way in. I thought: I have two Masters degrees from Harvard. Why should I be filing mail in the basement of a talent agency? However, the four weeks I have spent in LA have shown me the value of actually getting your hands dirty working in the industry rather than (or at least in addition to) chatting with professionals over coffee on a Sunday afternoon.

While networking is an essential skill to exercise in a personality-driven industry like media and entertainment, you have to be willing to actually create something that people can react to and evaluate. An inspiring coffee chat with a fellow alumnus from Pomona College now working successfully as a television writer has urged me to put down the pencil and pick up a camera.

My plan for Getting my Hands Dirty and How You Can Get Yours Dirty Too

Take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities: Your years spent as a student represent a time-sensitive opportunity in that successful alumni tend to be more open to conducting informational interviews, companies are willing to take you on as an intern, and your student loans or scholarships make money less of an urgent obligation. Use your summers and programs like field studies and independent studies to explore working in the field you are passionate about joining. Even if the day-to-day work is not exactly what you hope to be doing full time, you’ll often make valuable connections and be promoted to more meaningful and relevant work after having proven your reliability and acumen for the job. I’m currently working to figure out how I can use independent and field studies to work on producing a documentary one semester and short webisodes of my own talk show another semester.

Be honest about what you want to do: If you want to be a painter, don’t tell people you want to be a lawyer. While it may seem safer to tell people what they want to hear, you are missing out on the opportunity of crafting your own destiny by claiming your dreams out loud as well as the very real missed opportunity of someone having information or a connection that can help you in getting closer to your dream job. I read somewhere once that it’s better to be scorned for who you are then loved for who you aren’t. Therefore, when people ask what I want to do, I will tell them openly and honestly my three-part dream of writing, hosting, and filmmaking. It’s what I want to do, and I should not apologize or silence myself to satisfy anyone.

Just Do It!: Rather than aiming to have all the details perfectly in place, begin creating and participating in the field you want to be in. My readers have seen my blog go through at least five renovations in four months, but instead of getting paralyzed by the blog looking perfect, I keep writing and hope that people will be lured into the site by the content. Rather than gathering every single piece of information I can about the experience of filmmaking and hosting, I will work with the information I have and learn along the way. I will experience it myself rather than vicariously through other people.

The importance of getting your hands dirty seems like common sense, but sometimes those of us with the most education are the ones who are the most reluctant to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. We are used to striving for perfection. As my friend Kobina says, “Strive for excellence rather than perfection,” so you can finally get started on achieving your dreams.

Related posts:

1. Say What You Want Out Loud