Dreams

7 Steps to Stop Dreaming and Start Working on Your Dreams

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Every day you make a choice — you either work on your dreams or you keep on dreaming.

The dreamers are those who do nothing but dream and float through life without a plan or a purpose. Those who have a dream, on the other hand, are the ones that work hard and know that it is up to them to make that dream a reality.

But you have to understand that a dream without a plan… is just a dream.

Below, I share a seven-step guideline that will help you turn your dreams into actionable goals.

1. Accept who you are

“When you know yourself, you’re empowered. When you accept yourself, you are invincible.” — Tina Lifford

Don’t put an emphasis on your flaws or overlook all that you have simply because you want to have all that you don’t. Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. You don’t finish the race by running faster, but simply by continuing to run.

If you don’t accept who you are, you choose to live your life with a tremendous burden on your shoulders. That way, the path toward achieving your dreams becomes much more difficult.

Image for postImage for post

Put that burden down, rest for a while. Close your eyes and just imagine the best version you can be. That’s who you really are, that’s the real you. You just need to find the courage and passion within you to become that person.

Once you accept who you are as a whole, you will achieve a state of freedom unlike anything else. Suddenly, the steps toward your dreams will become lighter and joyful. Be thankful for everything that you are, instead of hating yourself for everything that you aren’t.

2. Welcome the failures

“A winner is a loser who tried one more time” — George M. Moore

No, life isn’t unfair just because you lost. The world doesn’t stop making sense because you were turned down from your dream job. The failures, the obstacles, the hardships in life, these are character-building elements that shape you into the unique person that you are today. Embrace them, welcome them, and watch yourself grow.

Whatever life throws at you, it is you who decides how to cope with it. There is nothing wrong with feeling down once in a while, it is what makes you human.

In the process of working on your dreams, you’re going to incur a lot of disappointments, a lot of failures. That’s a fact. What counts is your attitude when things get bad. It is in those moments that you discover what you’re made of. You will either settle with being only mediocre and surrender to life’s difficulties, or you will rise above them and fight for your dream.

It is not about how bad it gets, but about how bad you want it!

3. Don’t try to make everyone happy

“The key to failure is trying to please everyone” — Bill Cosby

Stop trying to make everyone in your life happy, it can’t be done.

In order to become successful, you need to make your goals a number one priority. You can never achieve your dreams if you spend all your time being there for others but spend none of your time working on your dreams.

If you want to get to the next level, you have to invest time in you.

Image for postImage for post

There is nothing wrong with investing time to work on your dreams. It is those who sacrifice a lot for their dreams that get to live them.

Sometimes, in order to work on your dreams, you will need to isolate yourself from others. You need to understand that in order to achieve your goals, you will need to focus on your craft and beat it into submission day in day out. But you can’t give your best when you are distracted all the time. That’s why you need to let go of what everyone thinks of you and be selfish about the time you’re spending.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others

“Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners”

If you’re analyzing and reviewing your dream, and you feel you’re not making much progress, that’s fine. Everyone does that. What you need to understand is that you must not ever compare yourself to anyone else. When you compare yourself to others you are insulting your uniqueness.

Just because someone is moving faster than you right now doesn’t make your effort and success smaller. You are running your own race. Who you run against doesn’t matter. What matters is that you keep a sharp mindset, focus on your goal, and give the best you’ve got.

In reality, you’re not competing with anyone else but yourself. Remember, a flower doesn’t think of competing with other flowers, it just blooms.

5. Choose your circle of friends wisely

“Your circle of friends must match your own aspirations and dreams, or you will find little support when you need it most.” — Leon Brown

The people who you spend the most time with define who you are.

Your closest circle of friends largely influences your personal success in life. You unconsciously take up their characteristics and habits and become just like them. That’s why you need to create a circle of people that will support you, people that will back you when things go wrong and will be happy to see you rise. Align yourself with individuals who will criticize you, who will drive you to fulfill your potential.

Not everyone will be as ambitious as you. Not everyone will be as determined as you. There are people that don’t work on their dreams, and that’s fine. What matters to you is that you surround yourself with people that represent your ideas. People that seek opportunities and who refuse to live life just as it is. The people that are fearless and that know that if it’s going to happen, it is up to them.

You want friends that celebrate you, not just tolerate you. The friends that will be happy about your every success story.

Take some time to evaluate your relationships. If your friends don’t support your goals and dreams, then it’s probably time to branch out and start establishing new relationships.

6. Master self-discipline

“Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy” — Robert Half

Self-discipline is a trait of champions. You may have gotten bored of hearing this, but hard work really does beat talent. Nothing worthwhile in life comes easy. If you work on your dreams only when you feel good and when things work out for you, you rely on an unrealistic illusion that times will always be good.

Train your attitude. Discipline is not something that you receive, it is something you build day-in-day-out. How you live your days is how you eventually live your life. So don’t wait for life to get better and only put in the work on sunny days. Learn how to give your best when you’re feeling the worst.

It is by working hard that you expel the mediocrity in you and make a path for the greatness that you have within.

7. Don’t be afraid to dream big

“The people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do” — Steve Jobs

Nothing is permanent in this life. Life is a balance of good times and bad times, happiness and sorrow, life and death, Yin and Yang. When life gets tough, don’t back down, don’t stop believing in your dreams. Don’t drop the gloves at the first signs of insecurity. Instead, welcome the hardships and know that this too will pass.

Image for postImage for post

If your dreams are vital to you, you’ll find a way. If your dreams are important to you, you won’t give up on them. Every day you get a new chance, a chance to start over and make a profound change in your life.

Don’t expect everyone to get on board with you dreaming big. You won’t get a lot of support along the way, and that’s fine. The road to achieving your dreams is a lonely one. The farther you go, to lonelier it gets. When times are hard, remind yourself why you started.

Know that you have greatness within and realize that you’re an uncommon breed. Re-adjust, re-focus, and re-organize yourself as much as needed. Fail hard, fail often, but never give up. Don’t give up, even when giving up seems like the best thing to do. Finish what you started and fight for your dream.