How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality
Photo Credit: Phoenix Wolf
Don’t you have dreams, visions or plans about things you’d love to have or accomplish? Having the dream is the easy part. Making it a reality can be more challenging. However, the good news is that there are proven techniques that can get you from where you are to where you want to be.
Follow this process to bring your dreams to fruition:
1. Turn your dream into a goal. When you have a goal, you have a true target. For a greater chance of success, your plan should have a deadline and it must be measurable.
- It has been said that dreams are goals without a deadline. Give yourself the gift of setting a deadline and things will start to happen.
- You want your goal to be measurable because, if you can’t measure it, how will you know when you’ve succeeded?
- For example, this goal is measurable and has a deadline: “On or before June 1, I will weigh 150 lbs. or less.”
- Make your goal as desirable as possible without being unrealistic. If you feel that your goal is unreasonable, it’s much more difficult to encourage yourself to actually pursue it.
2. Prioritize your goal daily. Read and write your goal each day.
- You give instructions to your brain thousands of times a day. Let your mind know that your goal is something more important than, “I feel like eating a ham sandwich,” or “I need to stop at the grocery store on the way home.”
3. Make a list of negative associations. You probably have negative associations with achieving your goal; otherwise you’d already have it. So make a list of all the negative stuff that pops into your mind when you think about achieving your goal.
- Examine that list and think of ways to work around those challenges.
- Each time you notice a new negative association with your goal, add it to your list. Things will tend to change over time, and new challenges will reveal themselves.
4. Make a list of all the positives about reaching your goal. How would it make you feel? How would it change your life? How would it change your perspective of the world and yourself? What would your next goal be?
- Make your goal as attractive as possible. Envision your life after achieving the goal. This will help to keep your motivation levels high.
5. What do you need to make your goal a reality? Do you need to special license? Do you need a laptop? Is there some knowledge you must acquire? Make a list of what you need and figure out how you’re going to get it.
6. Catalog your available resources. Who do you know that could be helpful? What expertise or items do you need that someone else might have?
- Achieving difficult goals can rarely be accomplished alone; you’re likely to need some help and guidance. Look at the list you made in step 5 and see what you already have in your life that could help you on your path.
7. Track your progress. Measure your progress each day.
- Tracking is critical to making continued progress. You can only adjust your approach if you know how you’re doing. Consider making a chart if that’s applicable to your goal.
In many ways, working toward a goal is like baking a cake: if you follow the recipe, you’ll always pull a perfect cake out of the oven. Likewise, if you follow the above steps, you’ll find it much easier to achieve your dreams.
