In my last blog post I talked about following your dreams. We looked at a lot of things but now we need to expand on this.
I finished my last article talking about how having a dream is important but you needed to make sure that you were able to follow through on it to make it a reality.
Look, being honest with you we all have dreams but 90% of people never make this dreams a reality. However, there is good news! You can follow my steps below to make your dream become a reality.
Dreams must be made into goals – A dream is just that, something nice, something lofty in the air. However a goal has a target and a timeline. This is important to have a timeline. Not only this but it must be measurable as well. How will you know when this goal has been achieved, or how close you are to achieving it?
I am sure you have heard of the phrase dreams are goals without a deadline – well take this to heart!
You have to make sure that you set a date for your goal, and then work backwards from that date so you can chunk down that goal!
Let’s talk about the goal being measurable. For example let’s say my goal is to have a monthly income from writing books. I need to put in a specific amount. As if I just say I want to earn more money each month, that would mean if I earned $10 more one month then my goal would have been reached! You see how not having a measure of your goal can set yourself up for failure.
Once you have a timeline and something to measure your goal by then you have in place something that is going to help you prioritise.
Make your goal a priority each day – Every single day you should read your goal. Of course in order to read your goals you must have them written down, either on paper or on your computer or phone screen. I personally use Notes on the iPhone to record my goals.
By reading your goal everyday you actually imprint it into your mind. Your mind will then soak up these goals and will start finding ways to help you achieve your goal.
You know having your goals written down also gives you the why. The why is so important – when the going gets tough you can always refer back to your why so that you get back up on the horse.
Get rid of negativity – You know sometimes what holds us back from achieving our goals is negative associations we have with our goal. You may think, if I achieve my goal people are going to think X of me, or I will have Y problems. These are just excuses that you are saying and putting barriers in your way.
Make a list of all the things that you think might stop you achieving your goal. Be honest, and once you have that list you can start to look at each negative item and find a way to work around it.
This may be an ongoing list, as you will find that other things pop up over time. It is good to be aware of these negative thoughts you have because once you are aware of them you can find out how to counter act them and overcome the challenge.
Let’s get positive! – ok now that you have made your list of negative points, it is time to make a list of positive points. List out everything that is going to change when you achieve this goal. Think about how achieving this goal will make you feel. How is it going to affect your life and the life of others?
When you achieve this goal what is the next step? What is the next goal you can create?
All of these answers will help you get energised and ready pumped up with motivation.
What resources are needed to make this goal a reality? – knowing what you need to have in order to achieve the goal is really important. For example in order to achieve your goal do you need any special education, software, or other resource? It is best to know what you need now and then see if the goal can still be a reality.
For example if you need a high end laptop and video camera to record your movie, is it feasible? Do you have the money to purchase all these things? If not you may need to rethink how you can get these items – perhaps from a friend or colleague?
The best thing to do is to make a list of all the resources you need in order to achieve the goal.
Make an inventory of your resources – Looking at the list that you created above you can now see if you can match some of the things you need to people that you know that might have them. Perhaps you have a friend who either is in possession of one of the skills or resources or knows someone that can get it.
Remember that to achieve goals sometimes you will the help of other people. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Start to track – I mentioned earlier that your goal needs to be measurable, well you also need to track your progress so you can see how far you have come. If you don’t track your progress you won’t know how close you are to achieving your goal. When you track you can also decide if you need to adjust your strategy or not.
Following the steps above will help you achieve your goals in a more consistent manner. However realise that creating good goals does that practice. The better goals you set and the more you do to work towards them, and the more you track the better you will get at achieving your goals.
If you need any more advice or help then join my Facebook coaching group.