Turn Your Dreams Into Goals
(Part 4.)
Dream forward. Plan backwards.
You can bring your dreams to life by bringing them down to earth. You can do this by making a plan. If you’re having a hard time beginning, try this tool.
Start here.
Here’s what we typically say to ourselves … I can’t because …
“I want to write a best-selling book, but I can’t because I need to make money and writers don’t make money, and I can’t afford it.
“I want to work in climate change, but I can’t because I don’t have the credentials – I’m not an environmental lawyer or a botanist.”
“I want to completely change careers, but I can’t because of my age and because I don’t have the money saved to go back to school and to provide the cushion I’ll need.”
What are your reasons why you can’t pursue your dream? Don’t stop here!
(fyi – money, credentials, and time (age) are the main reasons we don’t pursue our dreams.)
Turn your reasons into goals.
Your reasons for “why not” become your goals. Here’s how:
I want to work in climate change.
a) but I can’t because I don’t have the credentials – I’m not an environmental lawyer or a botanist.
Could you get the credentials tomorrow? No? Your goal becomes to get the right credentials to work in climate change.
Doesn’t that prompt some questions … what are the right credentials? Do you actually have to be a lawyer or botanist? What kind of jobs are there? What are others doing?
Research is typically the first step. Google is your friend here.
Solve for x.
Keep going by asking two more questions:
“How can I get x?”
“How can I get it without x?”
These questions open things up. They start a brainstorming process.
Good 'ol brainstorming.
If you have assumed that lack of credentials is your roadblock, come up with at least seven possible jobs that could exist within your area of interest. You’ve assumed lawyer and botanist, but what else is possible?
If on your journey, you do see some common credentials, ask:
– How can I get the right credentials for this field?
– How can I get a job in climate change without the right credentials?
Write down seven ideas for each question, no matter how outlandish. Doing this moves you out of a dead end and into possibilities.
Your idea that you don’t have the right credentials sounds perfectly reasonable on the surface, but when you dig around, you realize you have more wiggle room than you thought. For example, what exactly are the credentials for a career climate change? There are probably more than two types of job in such a wide-open field.
Problems are solvable.
This line of enquiry really breaks things down. Instead of zooming past any problems and deciding they’re unsolvable, we slow it down and see what’s possible.
If there’s something you want, but you’ve dismissed it, look at it again. What was your reason?
Is that really true? Really? Do you know it for a fact? Do you like your reason? Are you happy with settling for what you currently have?
Don't do it alone.
Enlist some friends. Go for a coffee. Get on a Zoom call. Start a chat group in Facebook Messenger. Have a Dream Dinner – where everyone comes up with a dream and everyone helps everyone. Get a coach! 🙂
People love to help. Get the ideas flowing. You never know what others know or who they know.
Keep in mind that our default is “all or nothing”. Maybe there’s some middle ground, or something that takes some chutzpah, or there are steps rather than one big leap.
Dream forward. Plan Backward.
Next week, in the final post of this series, we’ll look at how to bring your ideas and dreams down to the real world, so you can start taking action.
Because you deserve more meaning, more fulfillment, more dreams coming true.
