Do you remember the dreams you had as a child? Those moments you would run as fast as your famous sports hero or put your gown on and step into the surgical room to perform the next great surgical feat for humanity. Maybe you enjoyed setting up your small kitchen to create a masterpiece for your restaurant of toy dolls or it’s possible you were the one who made all of your friends sit quietly as you emulated your favorite school teacher.
Dreams. What happened to those dreams?
What I've learned in life is dreams exist for a reason. Maybe those dreams don’t manifest as we dreamt as a child but they still exists and that existence has a purpose. That purpose is simple: you had a dream because humanity needs your dream.
Humanity needs your dream.
I believe the greatest responsibility each of us has is to take those dreams that that live within our hearts and our minds and bring them to life. I believe when we lose focus of our dream, when we allow other distractions and voices to sidetrack us, we're actually missing the opportunity to live at our highest level of existence.
Bringing about the manifestation of your dreams then becomes your purpose for living.
But it’s much more difficult than simply reading words on a screen. Life throws many things at us. Some blessings. Some distractions. Some forks in the road. Fulfilling the dreams we fully believe in can often feel more like a burden than a miraculous partaking in life.
These challenges can often lead us to settle. After all, when life throws challenges your way it can become easier to jump ship and stick to this ‘normal’ that everyone talks about. Maybe you have listened to those voices of ‘normalcy’ or the voices that told you that you could never accomplish what you’re setting out to achieve. Maybe other voices have told you that your mission make absolutely no sense.
The problem with ‘normal’ and ‘sensibility’ is no two people have the same normal or sensibility guiding their lives. And they shouldn’t! We are each different people with different preferences and perspectives and passions and sense of well being. No two people should be living similar lives because no two people are similar. We are each unique.
Over the years, I have heard countless people express their frustrations or desires of how they wish they would have done something. The interesting thing? They are always very specific.
Write a book.
Become a lawyer.
Travel the world.
Become a coach.
Open a bakery.
Go back to school.
Every single time someone has reflected on what they ‘should have done’ they always know exactly what that ‘should have’ is. Why? Purpose. The dream that lived in you when you were young is the contribution humanity needs.
I want to encourage you- no matter how old or young you may be, it is never too early or too late to begin manifesting your dream. It will take time and energy so begin investing today! You can begin immediately working on bringing your dream to life.
I am going to give you three steps to begin taking right now that will empower your dream. These three steps are the foundation for building action and bringing your dream to life.
1- Give yourself permission
Often the only thing holding someone back from bringing their dream to life is permission. When so many have told you that you can’t achieve something or that the idea is too crazy or that it’s a waste of time, you begin to believe them.
Empowering self talk that is permissive to taking action and surrounding yourself with people who support you is extremely important. You want people in your corner who will tell you that you can rather than you can’t.
The pattern that seemingly repeats itself time after time for children is they are encouraged to use their imagination until adults feel it’s time for them to become more realistic. Once this takes place children are then told to be more realistic about life or to choose a dream that seems like something they could realistically achieve.
All of this talk about realism from adults stems from their own self doubt. This realist world adults speak of is in no way reality within the innocence of a child. This is the idea of beginners mind. The innocence of life and imagination and permission to dream. Adults who have been burnt by the ‘reality’ of life take it upon themselves to make sure children know what reality is.
But they’re mistaken. And wrong.
Give yourself permission to act on that gut feeling and tugging taking place within. Give yourself the space to make mistakes and try new things and to accomplish something beyond your imagination. This permission takes courage. Courage takes opportunity. Opportunity is created when we take action.
Surround yourself with your inner voice and the voice of others that says ‘yes’ through the real work that must take place for dreams to come true.
2- Create a circle of positivity
Manifesting your dreams is not easy work. It is also not for the faint of heart. Far too many people fall short when it comes to planning, strategizing, organizing and putting those elements into action.
But those elements are the structure that will bring your goal to life.
You must create a circle of positivity so you are not the only voice of inspiration in your own world. You need people around you that will encourage you during the trying times and remind you of the work taking place.
You need voices helping you stay focused on the larger picture because it is easy to get stuck in the weeds when the work gets going. When you build a circle of positive voices you will now have a greater opportunity to remain accountable, remain hopeful and progress forward with success.
This circle of influencers cannot be afraid to ask the hard questions.
What is your plan?
How will you fulfill this plan?
What will happen when this takes place?
What will you do if it doesn’t work out?
The voices in your circle of positivity will help you prioritize your action and energy so your dream can have a real chance at living.
3- Take action
I began this this article with the story of how many people I have had tell me over the years of how they wished they would have done something.
The bottom line is simple: they did not take action.
The truth is there are many obstacles standing between you and the manifestation of your dreams. But the greatest of those obstacles is action.
Far too many people go to their grave having never taken action. There are millions and millions of dreams need realized because people made the decision to not do anything. Don’t let this be you.
It takes courage to take action. But every it of courage needed already lies within you. It is simply waiting for permission to activate. Yes, there are unanswered questions. Yes, you will make mistakes. Yes, you will get things wrong. Yes, you will have moments of failure. But all of the questions of doubt are all answered when you take action.
It’s time to get your hands dirty, to dig out all of the experience and lessons life has taught and to get to work on building your dream.
Have you ever noticed the people with the best stories in life are the ones who take action?
You’ve never heard a good story from someone who works the same schedule each day, goes home at the same time, eats at the same time and watches TV or scrolls social media for hours before bed. Those are not the people you cannot wait to see and hear stories of their latest adventures.
Because they have no adventure.
The story tellers you enjoy spending time with are the ones who went to Europe last year to attend a three week, 150 mile hike.
They’re the ones who often go camping in a new state.
They’re the ones creating new businesses and taking art classes and hosting wine parties.
They’re the ones who never live the same day twice because life is much too short for that.
These are the people who you will cross paths with in 20 years and wonder ‘what have they been up to lately?’ They’re the dreamers. The ones with courage. They’re the ones living exactly as you did when you were a child.
And deep down you know there is something magical about the way they live. Because you remember that feeling of magic.
The beautiful thing is you can return to that magic today. You can take steps at this moment to give yourself the permission to take action. All it takes is making one different decision, taking one different step, and giving yourself one opportunity to feel the magic of life again.