By recognizing that you kill dreams, you just took the first step in creating your best life. With this awareness, when ideas and dreams cross your mind, you won’t dismiss them so easily. If you have really decided to see a dream as an opportunity, instead of a waste of time, living life your way is just around the corner. When you start a sentence with, “I know this sounds crazy…”, pay attention! That crazy idea could be your future.
You may have noticed that as you get older, time seems to move faster. Summers are shorter, you often run behind, and spend more time than ever before catching up. No matter how we perceive the passing of time, the fact is, that the clock is ticking. Every moment that you don’t get started, is a moment that passes you by. This is not to say you should always be busy, but isn’t it time to stop waiting for the perfect time?
Let’s go back to the three steps to start dreaming from How to Stop Killing Dreams:
Three easy steps to start dreaming again:
- Write it down. Make a list of all of your dreams. Do not censor this list. Go crazy! Dreams can include easy stuff like, “I want to have a short funky haircut” or “I want to grow an herb garden in my kitchen” to “I want to move to Spain and work for myself” and everything in between. If you can’t fill an entire piece of paper, than your life is perfect or you need inspiration and permission to dream. Here is your permission: Do it. It is your responsibility to define what “best” means to you and go after it. Do not waste your life living a life that you did not intend to live. For inspiration, go for a walk, lay down in the grass and look up, draw a picture, cook a beautiful meal. Connect with dream makers (see my list below). Do something different.
- Make a dream come true. Circle three things on your list that you can accomplish in the next week, and do them.
- Pick a big dream. Use the momentum from living three of your dreams, and circle three big ones. Yes, even that one that you think you can never bring to life. Now that you have three big dreams, here comes the tough part. Choose one. Choose the one that makes your heart smile. Write it down on a separate piece of paper and tape it to your mirror in the bathroom, or somewhere you can see it everyday.
Making dreams instead of breaking them can be a big transition, but considering you only get one life, it is worth the effort to decide to change. You can choose to change and that is so cool! If you haven’t taken these steps, please do them. You need the momentum from #2 to attack #3 with confidence. Assuming that you have written down and taped your #1 dream or big idea somewhere you can see it everyday, the idea is gaining energy. You are thinking about it often. Now that you know how to dream again, it is time to start turning dreams into reality.
How to make a dream come true:
Dream it – Follow through on steps 1-3 above.
Focus – It is ok to keep dreaming, but give a certain amount of time every day to your #1. Devote 15 minutes or more each day to making your dream come true. Track your progress in a journal or Google doc. Write down ideas, questions, anything that will move you closer to living your dream.
Be realistic – If this dream is going to come to life, you will have to get real with it. Make a list of every obstacle you can think of standing between you and your dream. Be specific and don’t confuse these obstacles with deal breakers.
Tell someone – Be proud of your dream. Tell a friend over the phone or the world through a blog. Talking about your dream will help you believe in it and help you solve problems getting there.
Stop punishing yourself – Just because you haven’t made the best decisions, or you aren’t dealing with the best circumstances does not mean that you aren’t meant for something better. It does not mean that you can’t change and it sure as hell doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to live your dream.
Be flexible – As you address the obstacles, and start talking more about your dream, you may find you want something slightly or radically different from the original idea. So what? Letting go is not the same as giving up, and progress does not look the same for everyone.
Your life may seem very defined. Maybe you have settled in or hunkered down. You might not want to make waves. That being said, if you are reading this blog, and others like it, you know that path of least resistance will kill you. Dream big and act bigger. Take the necessary steps to live your dream. It might take months or years or decades, but getting there will start to be as amazing as being there. Don’t wait for the right time, or the perfect moment, start now. Waiting for the kids to finish school, or to be out of debt, or until you lose 20 lbs will keep you right where you are.
If you aren’t ready to get started, figure out what is holding you back from taking the first step. Fear of failure? Fear of looking silly? Laziness? Depression? What could be more scary than living a life that passed you by? What could be worse than going day to day feeling uninspired, unmotivated and stuck. Feeling silly, facing fear, and being a little crazy will help you choose to change. Admit it, embrace it, fix it and move forward. This is the right time, your perfect moment to start living life on purpose.
The right time is right now, what are you waiting for?
Once again I found myself nodding along with this post and taking notes. Your posts resonate with me so often, and this is no exception.
Interestingly, last night I dreamed that I was offered a professorship in Europe– I had to add “living in Europe” and “Becoming a tenured professor” to my dream list.
Thank you for the insight!
Thanks Colleen! Looking forward to hearing about your obstacles. Keep me posted, maybe I can help?
Thanks! I will. I’m totally new to this whole process, but it is fun and really exciting to finally feel like I’m headed on a new path, instead of the path of least resistance!
I think fear holds most of us back. I want to work for myself, but I’m afraid to leave the security of my job because I am the sole breadwinner right now while my husband finishes school. It’s a sucky place to be.
McKella, When does your husband finish school? What can you do now to start moving towards your goal?
McKella– I feel your pain. I work because health insurance through my husband’s company is too expensive and private insurance doesn’t provide enough coverage. It is a scary prospect to give up security in the pursuit of happiness (especially if you have other mouths dependent on you!). For me the statement the gave me the “gut punch” today was “the path of least resistance will kill you.”
I truly hope that you get to start moving towards your goal of being self-employed! Could you do some side work to start laying the foundation for your future self-employment?
All these are excellent ways to make your dreams come true. These are the very things I use! I encourage everyone who as long held dreams to take this advice and live large!
Thanks for the great feedback Steve!
I love dreaming big. I had stopped for a long time, listening to the “practical” voice that said to be reasonable and not to have wild ambitions. I hushed that voice down and am understanding how possible it is to have even wild dreams come to fruition if I am willing to focus and do what needs to be done to achieve it. Your post has fabulous info for doing just that. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! I needed to read this, I just wrote about a minor set back I am having and how it may affect my plans to accomplish my dream to travel the world. After reading this I think I know what I am going to do. I need make sure I am the one who is happy and that I am doing what I want and need to achieve my dream.
Jaime, Sounds like you have some big decisions to make but they all lead to pretty cool stuff. I can’t wait to see how you decide to move forward. Email me if you want to bounce ideas.
Thanks for this Courtney. The thought of simply traveling the world for a year makes my heart sing. I will slowly but surely meet this goal in my targeted five years if the planets align and my hard work pays off.
Carolyn, Keep me posted and let me know if you want to brainstorm! Don’t wait for the planets to align, just choose to live your life, your way.
Hi Courtney,
What you have to say is so important to me at this time. I am 60 years young and free to live my dreams after a 35 year marriage. But where to start and how to have the courage to go it alone. We were an airline family so travel is very familiar. My dream is to WOW my kids with experiences of months spent living in European countries and Australia. Any words of advice/encouragement for my fearful soul?
Wow! Sue – this is pretty exciting stuff. Because of your extensive travel experience, you at least have the nuts and bolts part down. In terms of the fear, it doesn’t really matter what you do with that. You can embrace it, you can let it go or you can bring it with you. The only thing you cannot do is let it get in the way.
I don’t think you need to spend months analyzing the fear, just get started in spite of it. Just start and see what happens.
What European country do you want to start with?
Your words only confirm that We Are One! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.
Every Human Being should hear of these thoughts of yours!