Setting goals: Turning dreams into reality

A dream is the starting point. It’s where we allow ourselves to create images, ideas or concepts that we would like to have occur in our future. A dream may not always seem realistic or achievable at first, but we are filled with hope and inspiration when we think it might just come true … one day .

A goal is created when we decide it is time to move this dream into action!

Setting goals occurs when we make the commitment to making our dream come true and start creating the plan to get us there.

Sometimes as a soloist it can be easy to do a lot of dreaming – I know I do! I have lots of wonderful ideas and aspirations dreamed up alone in my office. If I am not disciplined then I never move forward to setting goals. This is when I pick up the phone and start sharing my dreams with other coaches, people in my business networks, friends or my own coach. Telling someone else my dreams is a sure way to motivate me to take some action.

You can stay in ‘dream mode’ for a short or a long time before turning it into a goal. There is no right or wrong timeframe.

It is my strong belief that we are not capable of dreaming things we cannot actually achieve. So if you have the ability to dream it, you have the ability to do it!

Want more articles like this? Check out the setting business goals section.

My husband and I shared the dream of traveling to Nepal for five years before we made it come true. It took this long because we had other dreams which we decided to turn into goals and achieve first. For example our dream to travel around the world for 365 days without having to work, we had a dream to buy a house together, we had a dream to get married. All of these dreams became reality first.

What was really important during these five years was that we kept our dream of traveling to Nepal “alive”. It was essential to keep refreshing the dream, plugging into it, to ensure it didn’t fade into the background and become forgotten.

Have you ever had a dream that just seemed to fade away over time?

Dreams need to be kept on our radar and given some energy.

Here are some examples of things we did to keep our dream alive:

• We went to see the movie “Himalaya” which inspired us with amazing mountain scenery (this was our 2nd date together);
• We gave each other guide books on Nepal and Trekking as gifts;
• We talked to our friends about sharing this dream with us;
• We collected travel brochures and newspaper clippings;
• We included traveling the world and climbing mountains together forever as part of our wedding vows

What dreams do you have right now?

Write them down and then list one thing you can do to help keep those dreams alive.

How do you turn one of those dreams into reality? Commit to it, make a plan and start taking action!

Remember – if you can dream you can do it!