“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
You want more from your life. You want to stretch your wings & fly. The only problem is… Where to? You want to have big ideas, big, scary, ridiculous dreams, but you don’t know where to start.
Think about all the amazing things in your life that just exist. None of the things that we take for granted could have been possible if someone hadn’t imagined them up! A computer you can carry in your pocket? That you can talk face-to-face on with people who are across an ocean? Ridiculous!
The best dreams free the world from something limiting. You can make the world a better place. Yes, you. Positive thinking really can change the world. And it starts with you, baby! Isn’t that exciting?
Learn to doubt the widely accepted. Let the ultimate dream for yourself, for your life, be one which is completely senseless & totally unreasonable. Your dream should both challenge & scare you. If you’re not scared, if you’re not challenged, it’s not big enough. When you figure out what that is, when you focus in on it, it should cause you to be so excited & to question your own sanity a little bit.
An excellent litmus test to see whether or not your dream is truly big enough to make you stretch as far as possible, is to see if you have any idea how to get there. If you see a clear path, you’re not challenging yourself enough. You don’t need the whole picture, baby!
While you’re identifying your dream, you may got bogged down by what your body can see, touch, hear. You need to remember that your five sense only exist in the physical world, therefore they cannot perceive mental things. Dreams begin in your thoughts, and your senses can’t make anything of that. They can’t know about your plans, your ideas, your wildest & most amazing, fantastical dreams. Remember to ignore what they tell you in your dream planning. Ignore the balance in your bank account. Ignore the things you hear about the economy. Ignore the small town you live in. Ignore your lack or abundance of degrees & credentials. Ignore your job & what you own. You can stretch beyond all of these physical limitations. Trust your thoughts. Only then can you be free to dream & explore your potential.
When spending time identifying your dream, it really helps to know who you are & who the person is that you want to become. Do what it takes to be a person who knows themselves. Write a journal. Think. Write some more. Think some more. Do things alone. Alone time is great.
Figure out the who: who to work with, who to be friends with, who to volunteer with, who to live with. This will give you a good idea of what you want your dream to feel like, & what you will want to work towards.
As you start working towards your dream, be prepared to encounter resistance. This is normal—people are terrified of change. Rejection is normal too. But don’t let one rejection, or even a hundred rejections, stop you from striving. If you find or encounter a roadblock, find another way. There are so many paths that exist. You can find them.
You can create your ideal life in your mind. Two years ago I wouldn’t have believed this to be true, but I was challenged by a friend of mine & I’m now seeing positive results. Two years is how long it took me – it may take you longer or far, far less time. Get yourself a dream, darling. Then reach towards it. Start with a small effort & make it a habit. Want to write the greatest novel ever, but never have time to get some words on paper? Start setting your alarm half an hour earlier. Hate your job? Update your resume. You get the idea. Take some baby steps in the right direction to build your momentum. Make small, consistent movements towards the lifestyle that you want. Start designing the lifestyle you want with the tools that you have.
It’s okay to inch towards your dream. Sometimes you will have a leaps & bounds day. But leaps & bounds days don’t happen every day.
Harness the power of your relationships. Seek support from friends & family. The closest people to you are the ones who can provide the greatest motivation, because they know what needs to get done.
Think about lifting weights. When it gets easier, you shift to a heavier weight, yeah? If you don’t, then you won’t progress & get stronger. It’s the same with dreaming a dream—too easy &, well, it’s too easy!
You can have the life you want. But you need to know what you want. So take some time for yourself, & start daydreaming, beautiful!