Pursuing Your Dreams is Not for the Faint of Heart. 7 Mindset Shifts Inspired by Foo Fighter, Dave Grohl’s interview with British talk show host Fearne Cotton
Note: This story was written prior to the passing of Foo Fighters’ beloved drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
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I watched an interview on YouTube with Dave Grohl with British talk show host Fearne Cotton on pursuing your dreams from October 2021. Grohl is the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, the Foo Fighters. The interview was for Dave’s new book at the time, “The Storyteller.” And what it took for Dave to achieve his goals and dreams.
You can watch the entire interview here.
Fearne mentions the law of attraction (at 8:20 in the video), but Dave said he didn’t even know he was doing the law of attraction. He thought he was doing positive thinking. But when he learned more about the law of attraction, he realized that he had been practicing LOA.
That’s the thing; many people misunderstand about LOA. They think it’s about sitting around, visioning what you want, and it magically appears. But it’s more about aligning who you are with that dreams and taking action. Then things start falling into place, and you begin attracting better ideas, people, and opportunities into your life
Here are 7 Mindset Changes You Need to Achieve Your Dreams
1. Believe it Will Happen
Dave Grohl didn’t just magically become a superstar. He didn’t sit on his couch believing he was a rockstar waiting for his lucky break. He took steps to get there. He worked his butt off, slept in vans after nightclub gigs, and worked his way, leveling up each time to the top. He literally lived and breathed the lifestyle until he made it.
People who make their dreams a reality are obsessed with making it happen. They have the attitude that nothing is going to stop them.
2. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone and Overcome Fears
Dave also talked a lot about overcoming fears. You may not think celebrities have fears, but they all have fears just as we do. That’s the thing; they wouldn’t be where they are today if they didn’t overcome them. But Dave says he loves a challenge. To him, it’s the more interesting road. And that’s exactly what separates those who succeed from those who don’t and like to stay in their comfort zones.
If you have a dream you aren’t moving toward in life, think for a moment and ask yourself, what’s stopping you? Usually, you’ll find there’s some type of fear behind it. Write down what those fears are and what steps you can take to move past them.
3. Take Risks
Dave took lots of risks. In his early years, when Dave was the drummer in Nirvana and their lead singer, Kurt Cobain died, Tom Petty invited Dave to be the drummer in his band. But Dave turned the offer down. Rather than stick with comfort and safety, he wanted to take the risk and start his own band. He had never been the leader of a band before, but he liked the challenge of the unknown. Dave went on to form one of the most successful bands in rock history with the Foo Fighters.
4. Don’t Take Other’s Opinions Personally
There are people who may judge, criticize, and doubt you. In other interviews, Dave talked about Nirvana fans and the press being hard on him for starting another band. Never mind the naysayers. If you allow yourself to be controlled by other people’s opinions, not only will they own you. You’ll never get to be authentically yourself and do things that bring you joy.
Naysayers are usually unhappy, jealous people who didn’t have the courage to achieve their own dreams, so they try to crush everyone else’s dreams.
There are plenty of reminders from those who have succeeded and came before that reported back to say, “Never listen to the critics.” Don’t give up. Keep going.
The Beatles were told they would never make it in the music industry.
J.K. Rowling’s book Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before a small publishing house gave it a chance.
Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as an evening news reporter in Baltimore because she was “unfit for television news.”
4. No Such Thing as Failure/Be Willing to Make Mistakes
Achieving your goals and dreams takes not getting dragged down when something doesn’t work. Instead, find the lesson on what went wrong and what needs to be done to make it right or better. There is no such thing as failure.
Be willing to suck
Your first blog post will suck.
Your first YouTube video will suck.
Your first speech will suck.
But you have to get through your “firsts” and keep going to get better at it to become great.
Do you think Dave Grohl’s first performance when he was 17 years old with his first band, Scream was as good as when he performed with the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium in 2008 when he was 39?
Dave Grohl says, “I have a theory. There are two types of people when presented with an idea or a challenge. One will say, ‘Let’s figure this out.’ The other will immediately think of all the reasons it can’t be done.”
5. Be Compassionate with Yourself
It’s not an easy road. Watch your self-talk. Being compassionate with yourself will help you get through the tough times better than beating yourself up ever will.
6. Be a Doer
Write a list of the steps it’s going take to get you where you want to go and start taking those big and small steps every day. Taking steps every day toward your goals adds up to big wins.
7. Be Grateful Along the Way
Don’t wait to celebrate and be grateful once you have achieved everything. Make sure to be grateful and celebrate all your wins along the way. Dave, the big rock star that he is, says he’s still grateful when they show up to a gig and there’s free beer.
So, what dreams have you been putting on the back burner? What’s the one thing you can do today that will get you one step closer to getting there?
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Kat OM is a Resilient Mindset and Joy Coach based in New York City. Her signature program, Mindful Resilience, provides 21 tools and lessons to help keep you emotionally resilient through life. She is also the author of Resilient Love: Turn Your Wounds into Your Wings. You can also find Kat OM at: KatOMLife.com | IG: kat.om.transform.your.life | FB: katOM30
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