1. What’s your dream?
This is honestly the trickiest step. We complicate the heck out of it. We think, “What’s my life’s purpose?” and then we break out into a cold sweat.
Start with the easy stuff. What feels good to you? You don’t need to decide everything right this instant, but just start collecting ideas for your life that make you feel excited and enthusiastic about the possibilities. Write some things down. Just keep some kind of simple record of what your dream for your life is.
Close your eyes and see what pictures emerge. Images that come to my mind are sunny nature scenes. I also like the idea of someone wrapped in a cozy sweater and sipping coffee while they smile at a laptop. (That’s me right now.) I’m a writer, so I’m now committed to writing every day. One day I will own a beach house. That’s about it!
2. Decide and believe.
Many of us will pick a delicious dream for ourselves and then immediately start pecking furiously at the edges with a list of ways it can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t work out for us. Stop that!
If there’s a word for both deciding and believing in one fell swoop, the word would be commitment. You have to commit to your dream. Don’t just put it in a box and close the lid, never to see the light of day. You have to take it out and fondle it... every... day. Take it out, play with it, give it some air.
Decision + Belief = Commitment
Decide you want your dream to happen. For real. Believe it will and can happen. For real. This is the magic sauce that will help propel your dream into reality. If you don’t decide and believe, and therefore commit, well then... as Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
3. Release fear.
This next step isn’t a one-time event. It’s probably something you’re going to have to do over and over, every time you notice you’re stuck and you’ve stopped forward momentum.
We disguise fear under logistics all the time: “Oh, I don’t have time to go after that dream, I need to make money!” Sure ya do. So get up earlier.
“Well then I don’t have time!” Sure ya do. So get up earlier.
“But then I’ll be exhausted!” Here’s the thing. Last year, when I was getting up early, it was a bit of a battle. I was always feeling like it took heroics to drag my limp carcass out of bed that early.
It’s all in the attitude. This go round, I decided it was going to be easy and exciting to get up early to write every day. I decided it’s not going to be difficult. I decided to get the sleep I need, and not be so dramatic and sacrificial about getting up early.
Choose the right attitude. Release fear. Repeat.
4. Take action!
Eegads, finally, the part where we actually DO stuff.
Figure out what you need to DO to make your dream happen. Then go do it.
Every day.
To sum up step four, take action daily.
5. Love yourself.
It’s really easy to lose the plot in the frenzy of daily living. Just slow down, pump the breaks, relax. Listen.
Take quiet time alone every day — again, early morning if need be — to reflect, read, write, and to hear yourself think. Give yourself the time and space to feel your feelings and organize your thoughts so that you may stay in touch with your own needs and desires for your life.
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