Life Of E's

I like to dream, but I like to make things happen.” –Heidi Klum

Dreaming is definitely the first part….but then you have to kick it into gear or the dream stays only that…a dream rather than a reality. This article will include 10 ideas for how to take your dreams and then make them happen.

1. Write down all the dreams you have. You don’t have to show this list to anyone. It’s your list.
2. Now, choose 10 of the dreams you have-they can be big ones or small ones-but ones that you have listed. Write each of these 10 on a separate sheet of paper.
3. Choose the one you least care about from this list, and ball up the paper it’s written on. That’s right. Crumple up that piece of paper. How did that feel?
4. You can probably tell what’s coming next….go to the 9 remaining “dreams,” choose the least important of those, and tear the paper that it is on to shreds. That’s it. Too bad, so sad, that one is off the list.
5. Keep doing this until you get it. It might take you two or three more destroy-type tactics, but ultimately, you should feel in your gut that by ignoring your dreams, you might as well be balling them up and tossing them away. When I used this particular technique in some of my workshops about prioritizing it definitely gets people’s attention. The first time I have people ball up a piece of paper and throw it on the floor I can tell that I have people angry with me in the audience. Certainly that is not what I’m going for, however, I am making the point that if you don’t decide to move forward with something that you were holding out as a goal, you might as well just be throwing on the floor or tearing it into shreds.
6. Now choose one of the dreams you have left (either from the papers or from your list). How will you make “it” happen? What is the very first step you need to take, want to take, CAN take to move that dream into action?  Make sure the step you have chosen is a very tiny step. So often what prevents us from turning a goal or a dream into a reality is that it seems too large.

Ed Bliss talked about the “salami” technique…the idea that many projects, goals, or dreams look like a great big salami, i.e., not too appetizing. But just as most of us have eaten a fair amount of salami at a party when it was sliced nice and thin (but we would never have picked up the salami and just gnawed on it), so too with your dreams. Slice your dreams into little thin slices and take a delicious bite.
Imagine the risk if you do…but more importantly, imagine the risk if you don’t.

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Tags: accomplishment, dreams, goals