Step 1:  Realize that you’ve never been good at writing lists.

Step 2:  Write one anyway.

Step 3:  Remember that the steps are subservient to the final product, because the clean edges are what makes you proud, and the deep breath at the end of a marathon gives you peace.

Step 4:  Do not conform to the pattern of this world.

Step 5:  It is not your job to transform yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.

Step 6:  The trying is what will make you better.

Step 7:  Practice trying.

Step 8:  Do not be afraid of the list.  A list is structure, and structure is freedom.

Step 9:  Working without structure is what has kept you trapped inside yourself, your ideas a rolling mess in your head and your veins as you scream as yourself for years, because for years you have been less than perfect.

Step 10:  No one is perfect, which is why those who see perfection just ahead are doomed to be angry and exhausted.

Step 11:  Don’t you dare waste your potential.  Potential is nothing until it is realized.  Do not waste your potential.

Step 10:  Wasted time is equivalent to wasted potential.

Step 11:  Stand up.

Step 12:  Straighten your back.

Step 13:  Remember that your potential is one of life, of dignity, and power.

Step 14:  The Lord has not given you a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.

Step 15:  Do not be afraid.

Step 16:  You are going to be brilliant if you have the nerve to try.

Step 17:  The world is full of barriers to be broken, swords to shatter, and an ever-blazing fire that must be tended to. To contribute, you’ll have to set up barriers of your own.

Step 18:  Structure gives you freedom.

Step 19:  Do not be afraid.