There’s actually a process to realizing your dreams. Unfortunately, many well-meaning personal development experts don’t fully understand the process and, as a result, those who embrace their teachings soon find themselves discouraged and disillusioned when they fail to realize their dreams. The confusion is in misinterpreting Goal-Setting as the process to realizing your dreams. While Goal-Setting is part of the process, the actual foundation for realizing your dreams begins first with Dream-Setting.
You probably never heard of Dream-Setting before. Dream-Setting is the springboard for the realization of your dreams. If you don’t Dream-Set, you can never realize your dreams. Dream-Setting is the starting point. It lays the foundation for the Goal-Setting process. Let me explain this process in a little more detail.
Dream-Setting is the act of clearly defining a dream. It’s a two step process:
Step One – Ask yourself what you want your ideal life to be ten, fifteen or twenty years out. Then write down every detail of your ideal future life. Be very specific in the details: the income you earn, the house you live in, the boat you own, the car you drive, the money you’ve accumulated etc.
Step Two – Using this detailed description of your ideal future life, make a bullet point list of each one of the details that represent your ideal life. These would be the income you earn, the house you live in, the boat your own, etc. These details represent your wishes or dreams.
Only after you’ve defined your wishes or dreams does the Goal-Setting process begin. This Goal-Setting process requires you to build goals around each one of your wishes or dreams. In order to build goals around each wish or dream you need to ask yourself two questions:
Question #1: What would I need to do, what activities would I need to engage in, in order for each wish or dream to come true?
Question #2: Can I perform those activities?
If the answer to Question #2 is yes, then those activities represent your goals. Goals are only goals when they involve physical action and you have the capability to successfully take action.
For example, if your wish is to make $200,000, what would you need to do, in a given year, in order to make $200,000? What specific activities would you need to engage in successfully during a given year, in order to make $200,000? Make more telemarketing phone calls? Do more training? Get a specific license in your industry? Expand your product offering? Purchase more rental properties? Invest in more efficient equipment or technology? Etc. Then you must ask yourself if you have the capability to do these things. If you do, then each action you must take represents a goal. If you don’t have the capability to act then you must develop that capability before you can even begin to pursue each individual goal.
Pursuing and then achieving each goal is like a rung on a ladder that you must climb. Each goal achieved gets you closer and closer to realizing your wish – making $200,000.
Let’s summarize this process:
- Paint a picture with words of your ideal life.
- Define each wish or dream that must be realized in order to have your ideal future life.
- Establish specific goals around each one of your wishes or dreams.
- Take action. Pursue and achieve each of the specific goals that will make each wish or dream come true.
You then repeat this process for every other wish or dream. When you realize each one of your wishes or dreams, your ideal future life will then become your actual real life.
About Thomas C. Corley
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