Are you a dreamer?
Do you dream big?
There’s nothing wrong with having big dreams. We all dream but some of us just dream bigger than others. But with those dreams comes hard work.
Are you ready to put the work into your dreams?
There are a lot of people who will never realize their dreams because they will just simply not put the work into it, or they are too lazy, or they may have the attitude that they’ll never accomplish those dreams anyway so why bother.
If you are someone who has dreams and you want to see those dreams come true, then you must put the work into making those dreams come true. No one else is going to do it for you.
When I was raising my two kids, my dream was to be the best mom I could be but when they got older, I wanted to go back to college. One of my dreams was to get a college degree. Guess what, I did it!
I didn’t go back to college until my son (my youngest) was a senior in high school but I did it. And because I’d had one year of college prior to having kids I only had to go for three years and got a history degree. I loved it!
My husband had always wanted to go to law school. One of his dreams was to be an attorney. He had been in the military and had worked various jobs for several years during our marriage but then decided that he was going to fulfill his dream of becoming an attorney.
Was it easy? Heck no!
Our kids were in elementary school, I worked a crappy job that didn’t pay very much, and we struggled while he was in school, but we made it through. And he graduated from law school second in his class. He has been an attorney now for 20 years and loves it.
We’ve had a lot of dreams and goals over the years and some we have managed to be successful at and some we have not.
We have other dreams. One of our dreams is to retire sooner while we are still young enough to enjoy it. We are working on a plan to try to do that. We are both willing to work hard to make that dream come true. We may end up having to readjust our plans a little at times, but we will make it come true because we are both hard workers and we have a common dream.
What are some of your dreams?
Do you have the determination to stick it out to make those dreams come true?
Are you a hard worker? You can be.
“YOU” can make it happen! And let me remind you, no one is just going to hand you things, you must work for them.
Here are a few things to help you get started and be successful:
1) Write down your goals (or dreams)
2) Make a plan to accomplish those goals
3) Put your plan into action
4) Stay focused
5) Make adjustments as needed
Write Down Your Goals/Dreams
I know many of you have heard this countless times but it is true. Write down your goals or your dreams.
It is very important to write them down – to remember them, to look at them, to reach them!
There are several mediums you can use to write down your goals. You can make a dream board using a poster board or corkboard and pictures of those things you want, or places you want to go, or whatever it is that you want to obtain.
You can hang a whiteboard on your wall and your goals where you’ll see them constantly. You can use a notebook, calendar, or journal.
It is important to write down your goals or dreams. Life can get in the way and you will soon be caught up in everything else. You don’t want to get years down the road and realize that those goals or dreams you had were never fulfilled or accomplished.
Make a Plan to Accomplish Your Goals
After you write down your goals or dreams, make a plan to accomplish them. This will help you to be more successful.
How are you going to obtain your dreams? How long are you going to work toward your dreams to make them come true?
Give yourself a specific time frame and be conservative. Don’t write down a goal or a dream and say you’ll be successful in a short amount of time.
If you are trying to lose weight and get in better shape, make short intermittent goals so that you can achieve them.
If your dream is to be a teacher or attorney, map out how long it will take you and how you will get there.
Do you need to raise money, or do you need to work while you go to school?
You just need to plan, and you can attain those dreams. Map out what, how, and when you are going to get to your goals.
Put Your Plan into Action
After you have made your plans it’s time to put them into action.
At the beginning of the year, I read an article (wish I still had it to share) that most successful people write down their goals and one of the best places to write your goals or dreams is on a calendar.
Using a calendar, you can write your goals and add a timeline to it. This helps with your action plan. For example, one of my goals this year was to get healthier and lose weight.
I have other goals I want to attain also so I told my husband about this article I had read, and he and I went to a bookstore and both purchased a calendar. I began to write down my goals and added a timeline and the steps I was going to take to attain those goals.
Take your list of goals or the dreams you want to accomplish and with your plans decide what action you want to take to get there.
My goal of losing weight was the easiest to map out. I decided when I returned home from visiting family in mid-January that I was going to start my weight loss plan, I decided what program I was going to use, and I set a goal of 20 pounds by the end of March. I started my plan and I started to lose weight. I lost more than 20 pounds before the end of March, but I was trying to be conservative.
I have other goals and a dream to earn money while building my affiliate websites.
I am setting my goals for each week, making my plan, and putting those plans into action the same way by putting down what steps I am going to take and a timeline for getting those things done. I have built a small following and am happy about that.
I also work full-time, so I don’t get to spend as much time working on my websites as I’d like but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far.
Stay Focused
With any dream you have, you need to stay focused.
Check your progress regularly so that you know how you’re doing. Get in the habit of checking your goals at least once a week to make sure you are on task.
Because I’m trying to build traffic to my websites and to social media, I’m looking at my calendar two or three times a week to see if I’m on schedule with my website posts or social media posts.
As with my weight loss goals, I wanted to lose another 20 pounds before the end of June. I’ve lost a total of 32 so far, so I’m on schedule.
There are other goals that are long-term goals so those I don’t spend as much time on. I may check those once a month or so. I think you get the idea of how important it is to stay focused on your tasks so that you’ll see the outcome in the end.
Make Adjustments as Needed
No matter what you do or how well you plan, life throws us all curveballs. You may have to adjust your plans sometimes.
We’ve had personal things come up the last few months that have taken more of my time or distracted me from writing, so I’ve had to adjust some of my plans to reach my goals. I don’t get too worked up about it because I know it’s just a temporary situation.
There is a saying that I like that says something like failure is when you fail to keep trying or something to that effect. I like to think that when you keep at what you are trying to accomplish you will see that dream or goal come true, you may just have to jump a few hurdles along the way. Just don’t give up when things don’t happen in the exact way you think it should, or the time frame you think it should.
We all must make adjustments because life just gets in the way sometimes. I recently read an article about a lady who just graduated from college. It took her 18 years to complete her classes and graduate. Do you think she is any less excited or feeling fulfilled because it took her so long to finish? I don’t think so. I think she is proud for finishing what she started. And I know that you can do it and I can too.
You can do anything you put your mind to. It all starts with writing those goals down, making a plan to accomplish them, putting those plans into action, staying focused on the steps that are going to help you succeed, and making adjustments when needed.
Don’t get too caught up in the hurdles along the way, just keep jumping over them and keep going.
“Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.”
― Roy T. Bennett
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Here’s to wishing you the best and hope all your dreams come true.
Pamela
