How to Turn your Dreams Into Reality

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. If you are familiar with my work, you know that I believe that you’ve got to dream big to achieve in this world – you have to have a vision – and dreams offer us true inspiration. However there is one problem with dreams, unless you take action to turn them into reality dreams remain only dreams.

In the words of Roy T Bennett and Walt Disney

How do you turn your dreams into reality? The author Roy T Bennett said, “The surest way to make your dreams come true is live them”, while the world famous animator, Walt Disney, suggested that, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Do you have the courage to pursue your dreams, or are you content to shuffle along feeling half-fulfilled? If you have the courage to chase your dreams read on!

Set Goals and Monitor your Progress

How do we turn our dreams into reality? It is essential that you believe in your dream and yourself. To succeed you have to believe that anything is possible if you put in the work! Next step is to try to define your ultimate goal. Maybe you want to set-up a company with a multi-million turnover or have a career as a professional singer. From there you need to set some key milestones – you need an action plan. Keep your ultimate goal in mind, but work backwards. Set up some interim goals. If you want to grow your company, could you aim for a 5% sales increase every month? What steps are you going to take to boost sales? New products, innovative services? When working towards a dream it’s also essential that you monitor your progress. If you have a structured approach to goal setting, your progress will be easy to measure.

Ask Yourself this Question

You might say that you have ‘dreams’ but they are vague. You dream of a career in the arts or a life of travel, but you’re not sure how to get there. I read an interesting article recently by American life coach, Steve Pavlina recently on how to work out what to do with your life. Remember I recently blogged about finding your life’s purpose. Steve Pavilna suggests sitting down with a piece of paper and asking that question, ‘what is my true purpose in life?’ He proposed writing down the first answer that pops into your head, but if your answer doesn’t elicit emotions – and we are talking about tears or a sizeable lump in the throat – then rub that answer out and do it again.

Steve believes that at first we will write down false answers because of the clutter in our minds and memories, but when the right answer finally comes, it will feel like “it’s coming to you from a different source entirely”. Steve says you might have to write down 200 to 500 answers before you’re struck by a surge of emotion, but the typical person hits the jackpot after 50 to 100 attempts. If you really feel lost and unsure how to pursue your dreams, give this exercise a go and tell me how it works out. Steve claims that it took him 25 minutes, but he identified his dream job at 106, though he had mini-emotional surges at attempts 39 and 53 when getting close to the ideal career.

Take Action

Once sure of your dream you are going to need to take action every day to achieve it. Remember, a dream will stay a dream unless you act. No matter how small or insignificant the action, if you do something, you are one step closer to achieving your dream. Also have a time line. Set a deadline for achieving each of your goals – don’t just say ‘one day’ I’ll get around to it.

Along the way you will face opposition, but ignore the cynics – the people who say you’re dreaming! Remember Walt Disney’s empire also started out as a dream. Often people say things can’t be done because they have failed to do it, but you’re not them, you’re you! Despite the opposition, have the courage to keep sharing your dream with other people. You will come across other determined, ambitious people and they may just help you achieve your goals.

Expect Setbacks

Work hard and don’t make excuses. Basically you’ve got to be in it to win it. You will never know what you are capable of unless you give it a go. Also be prepared to fail. Everyone in business has set-backs and makes mistakes, but don’t dwell on your failings. Get up, dust yourself off and keep going. Over the years people have told me that I’m down for the count, but those people obviously didn’t know how to count because I got up again and kept going. Have you ever read the US Navy SEAL creed? It goes, “I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.” Are you a quitter or a fighter? If you want to make your dreams a reality you better become a fighter!

Be Realistic

When turning your dreams into reality you also have to be realistic. For example, carving out a career in the arts is tough. There are a lot of unemployed painters and sculptors out there, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up, instead be innovative and go sideways. A new report from the NSW Employment Department found that employers failed to find enough tradies to fill two-thirds of the jobs advertised in the construction and automotive trades. Half the jobs advertised for panel beaters received no applicants and a third of the applicants for plumbing jobs were unqualified. Two out of every five welding jobs were left unfilled and 60% of employers looking for mechanics did not receive any applicants. Why am I telling you this? Because sometimes there is scope to combine a trade with art and become an artisan. Maybe as a kid you loved playing with cars or building with blocks. Well, again have the courage to dream. Consider becoming a mature age-apprentice in an industry that’s crying out for workers! For example if you are artistic, learn to weld, work in construction during the day and in your own time weld amazing structures and hold exhibitions. Your welded sculptures might sell out! Again, dream big and see where your dreams take you.