My dreams of unusualness are keeping me awake at night. My dreams of success are holding me back from being present during the day. Which is my philosophical lead into Dreams vs Goals.
Dreams, in my opinion, are amazing. But it is how we use them, learn and grow from them that is where it gets tricky. I’m not going to define dreams but it is relatively common to hear that dreams are the inner workings of our subconscious mind. So with that said, I think dreams are important and should be listened to. They may be telling us something we know deep down but have not had the time or courage to really act on it.
But what is a dream without action? It’s an empty cloud that soon will evaporate into nothing. This is where goals come in. To achieve a dream you need to pave the way through stepping stones or goals. Sometimes our dreams are BIG and we get discouraged because it seems the path to get there is completely immeasurable but if we start to set small goals to check off, the list suddenly becomes a little bit easier. No item on the checklist is too small. So really, what am I saying with all of this…
- Write your dream down. Or better yet make a dream (vision) board. This helps to remind you what it is you are working towards. Visualization is key.
- Stay focused. Set benchmark goals in what you can do to get closer to your dream. Have them written down, but not in stone – it is okay if they slightly shift or change – as long as that is inline with your ultimate dream.
- Be realistic with your goals, treat some more like habits and be patient with yourself as you develop these. Consistency is key in making a change stick.
- Be okay with your dreams changing. If you reach one of those small goals towards a dream and it is not at all what you wanted, move on to the next and learn from that. If it even goes as far as to mean your dream is maybe no longer your actual dream, that is okay too, just repeat steps one through three.
Now, get after those dreams.