As an independent musician, one of the biggest challenges you face when you're following your dream of creating a full-time living from your music is it's hard to believe in and keep working towards building something you can't see.

It's also hard because other people don't see you making any progress, so they don't understand what you're doing, they might not support you, they question how realistic your dream is, or they might outright judge or criticise you.

You can work for weeks, months or even years on your dream with no visible signs of progress, and you can become discouraged and start to doubt yourself: Am I talented enough to make a living from my music? Are my songs good enough? Is my playing good enough? Is my singing good enough? Do I even have what it takes?

The despair can be so overwhelming that you give up on your dream. So what do you do?

I want to tell you about this mindblowing plant that can help. No, not that plant.

There's a species of bamboo that builds its roots underground for 3 years before it ever breaks the surface.

Imagine if someone saw you watering a patch of dirt every day for 3 YEARS with nothing happening. They'd think you were totally crazy.

But here's the mindblowing part. After growing underground for 3 years, when the bamboo finally sprouts it grows 3 feet a DAY.

The reason why it can grow so fast is that for those first 3 years it's building a root system underground. So even though you don't see anything happening for the first 3 years, there's a vast foundational network being established that ultimately supports the rapid growth of the bamboo when it's ready.

When you've been working on your dream for a long time and you've got nothing to show for it, you're in the process of building a root system. You have internal foundational structures that are being established, and you need to honour these. These are to do with changing your beliefs and mindsets, mourning obsolete roles and identities, creating new productive habits and restructuring your life around them.

These internal structures are creating the foundation that supports your growth into your dream. You're clearing out your mind to make room for new possibilities, for a different way of relating to your dream of having a full-time music career.

Every system in nature has an organic pace at which it develops. If you try to pry the petals of a flower open so it blooms faster, you'll damage the flower. You are an organic system that has its own pace of progress.

Often we berate or harass ourselves to go faster than our pace because we're impatient and we want the results and the success right now. But there's a dignity to your inherent pace and there's a dignity to your dream. You have to find the balance between your dream's desire to unfold and your ability to cope.

The brilliant Annie Lalla says the way to tell if you're moving at your organic pace, the way to know if you're falling for your fears or standing for your dream is the amount of “aliveness” in your body. You could call it fear, anxiety, or nervousness. These are different labels for the same energy.

The amount of aliveness you want to optimise for is 5/10. This is an internal calibration you have to track. It's unique for each person. It's subjective. There is no objective 5/10.

5/10 is the sweet spot where you're making progress without damaging your system or perpetrating violence on your unfurling process.

Even though you can get something done in the short-term using sheer willpower and brute force, it damages your system. There are internal parts of you freaking out, saying “You're going too fast! This is too much for me! I can't handle it!” But you're ignoring their complaints. There's something violent about this, and eventually your body revolts. It shuts down. You burn out. That internal conflict erodes your self-esteem, which you need in order to take the risks and the actions that move you forward.

Success and progress don’t happen overnight; they take time to nurture. You may see nothing significant happening for weeks, months, or even years. But if you keep going and don’t give up, there will come a time when all the pieces come together and things take off.

This requires that you have faith. Bamboo growers have faith that if they keep watering and fertilising the ground, the tree will eventually sprout. Well, you must have the same kind of faith in your bamboo, in your dream to make a full-time living from your music.

The great Bob Proctor said “Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you can't see. You choose.”

I see so many musicians choose fear and give up on their dreams too soon. What they fail to realise is that pursuing your dream is a sure thing if you just don’t give up. There are only 2 REAL failures: quitting and never getting started.

Succeeding in music is a long game. You have to be willing to play the long game.

There is a season to sow and a season to reap, but you don't do both in the same season.

As long as you keep watering and fertilising your dream, it will come to fruition. It may take weeks. It may take months. It could even take years. But eventually, the roots will take hold and your bamboo will grow in remarkable ways.

This doesn't mean that you just stubbornly do the exact same thing for years and years. You might have to change your strategy and try different things.

Perseverance is the price of success. Be like bamboo.

Have faith in the bamboo. Trust that when it's ready to burst onto the scene, it's going to happen quickly and congruently, and you'll be glad you didn't berate yourself to go faster.