Do you have a dream but have not taken any real steps towards it? Do you not know what to do?
I have had dreams like most people, and when I was younger, I thought that all of them would come true. As I got older, I realised that no dream of mine would come true if I did not work on it now. After a while, I even started to doubt if I could succeed in doing anything at all. Maybe my dreams will become just dreams after all.
I wanted to start living my dreams, not just daydreaming.
In order for me to get closer to my dream, I needed to do these things:
- List the people who inspire me.
- Consume everything from people I want to be like.
- Identify topics that I think I need to learn.
- Make small and big goals.
- Learn and update the goals (and maybe the dream too).
If it sounds like you, or you have been fed up with just dreaming and slowly giving up on your dream, let me save you some time and give you the recipe that helped me take the first step towards my ideal future.
Thing #1: List people who inspire me
First things first, I needed to identify people who had already succeeded at what I was dreaming about.
I specifically spelled this out—people who inspire me—because I did not know what specifically I wanted out of life. Yes, I had dreams like financial freedom and good physical and mental health, but I did not know what exactly that looked like. Listing out these people I followed on social media and admired in real life helped me figure out what exactly I wanted and how it was achieved.
My dream was vague before, and this showed the reality of what is out there and what I want.
Thing #2: Consume everything from people whom I want to be like
You need food for your brain.
I had a list of people I wanted to be like. Now I needed to figure out how they got there. Researching these people—consuming their content on social media and their products Some have recommendations for books, podcasts, and other people whom I may like and learn from. I would recommend talking to them in real life if possible. They can become great mentors and help you achieve your goals.
Consume only content that inspires you and motivates you to do better.
Thing #3: Identify topics that I think I need to learn
After consuming so much content, I had an idea of what I should learn and what knowledge I lacked.
After my first glance at the content, I had a few ideas on where I should go, what I should learn, and what some steps should be. This could be very vague; I did not have much knowledge to base anything on. Identify what you lack—what is the difference between you and your dream? Then I identified the most important topic, which is priority.
This list is my first roadmap of sorts.
Thing #4: Make small and big goals
Goals are very important in making my dream a reality.
There is so much out there on how to create good goals, but mostly they should be specific, realistic, and have a timeframe. I had a list that highlighted the difference between me and my dream. I took the list and made the most important topic my priority goal. It should give me the most benefit and the most results. I made big goals—where do I want to be in 5 years?—and worked backward and created goals for a year, a month, a week, and a day. That helped me create a plan and answer the question: what should I do now?
Taking the first step is critical.
Thing #5: Learn and update the goals (maybe the dream too)
Self-awareness is crucial to not going off track.
I was trying to be self-aware and after a while look over my goals. After every month, I wrote a review of that month and answered these questions: What did I do? How did it go? How was I feeling? What lesson did I learn? Am I going in the right direction? If some of the answers seem off, I reviewed my goals—maybe I am not going in the right direction for me, or maybe my dream needs to be adjusted. Maybe my idea of the thing I am trying to reach is not real or not the way I imagined it.
Pivoting and changing goals does not mean I gave up; it means the star I was chasing was in a different direction.
Conclusion
If you take these steps, I already know you will be closer to your dream. I was. It prompted me to start doing more than thinking. This is how I will be ending this: take the first step! All the planning and learning will not get you anywhere. The most important thing is to start. Even if you feel like you are not ready, try. You will learn so much more by doing, and you will have the right perspective to learn more. This process encouraged me to start blogging. It was spontaneous, but I do not regret it. I am learning so much along the way and can now say that it is better to be a doer than a planner.
Finally, even if I do not succeed in living my dream, at least I will be going up. I am aiming at the stars, and maybe I will land on the moon, but without any goals, I will be just sitting on the earth and daydreaming about the beautiful stars in the galaxy. Maybe even start to resent them. I want to live my life flying, and I bet you want it too. So go and live your dream. I believe in you!