Plan For Your Dreams to Make Them Come True
There are many lessons we can learn from small children but how to dream big is one of my favorites. Do you remember when you were a child, all the things you wanted to accomplish? You didn’t worry about whether or not you had the right skills or clothes, enough money, a supportive spouse, etc. Children just dream and then dream some more! Everyone had dreams but some of us gave up ours because of perceived obstacles or because the dream missed our deadline. The dreams that you had were given to YOU for a reason. Getting reacquainted with your dreams and crafting a plan for seeing them through may help you start living your purpose right now.
Plan for Success
Have you ever just happened upon a big personal success? Perhaps you woke up and realized a major work project had gotten done while you were sleeping? Did you accidentally get a college degree? I think not, but this illustration makes it easier to see that our dreams aren’t going to happen without planning either. You have been successful at planning other things so I believe you can be successful at making your dreams come true with the right preparation. You should look at preparing your mind and your environment.
Prepare Your Mind
Your mental preparation includes visualizing your dream coming true and keeping a positive attitude. Spend some time searching your mind for why you want the dream. Really thinking about your dream will help you uncover ideas for making it happen that might not have come to you with just a cursory examination. I have a friend who always tells me the answers to my questions are inside me if I would slow down (and hush) long enough to hear them. If the reason behind your dream is you want to help people it will be harder to quit when you know that your dream matters to others also. Also think about what obstacles you might face on the way to seeing your dream come to life. Might you have moments of doubt or minor setbacks? Plan for those challenges in advance so you can simply acknowledge the situation but keep moving forward with minimal delay.
I have written before about the power of positive affirmations for helping you guard your attitude and realize your dreams. Positive affirmations help keep you moving toward your goal, even when you can’t see how you will make it. Just because the path to your dream isn’t obvious to you right now, doesn’t mean the path is not there. Something could change in the next moment and immediately you would be able to see how and when your dream will be realized.
Prepare Your Environment
It’s important to support your positive thinking with visual cues and reminders of your dreams. To prepare your environment you might:
- Make a dream board where you can pin or glue symbols of what you want to see realized.
- Write down your dreams to keep them fresh in your mind.
- Keep a journal of what you’ve done toward realizing your dreams each day or each week.
- Talk with others who share your goals and dreams to stay encouraged and excited.
Surrounding yourself with tools that support your dream will help you stay on the right track and motivated. Regardless of what your dreams are—and your dreams are uniquely yours—you are capable of making them come true.
What dreams did you have when you were young? Are you working on any of them now or did you convince yourself they were unrealistic? It’s never too late. Let me know how to support you in the comment box below.
Allegra, what a great post! I had to laugh at your rhetorical questions in your second paragraph — how many times have I gone to bed wishing a project would just do itself in the middle of the night! Alas, it never has happened : (
I believe that God gives us dreams and will help us carry them out, but if we lose heart and give up, those dreams will not materialize. You gave some wonderful suggestions for keeping our dreams alive. I have some goals in different areas of my life that are written down on 3×5 cards and put into a small WalMart paper photo album. My goal (!) is to read them every day to keep them in front of me. It’s only as we are intentional that things will happen in our lives.
Hi Pastor Sherry,
You are the second person to tell me about the 3×5 cards, I had never heard that idea. And as we are intentional, the right things, the good things, the best things happen in our lives. And dreams are often so big and powerful they must come from somebody greater than you and I. Have a powerful week!
Hello Allegra
To be able to dream is to be able to conquer (may it be fear or obstacles in your way).
I like your saying that there is a reason why you dream.
Dreams can be so powerful as whoever dares to dream dares to succeed.
Once one have decided to pursue their dreams one must prepare themselves to be mentally and physically challenged. Be prepared to successfully plan ahead and stick to it till they succeed.
Great post Allegra
Hi Irene,
I think you’re right. Whenever you try to do something big you must prepare for challenges. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
Thanks for the compliment and I hope you have a great week!
I like your points on preparing your environment. This is a part of the process that people typically leave out when working towards a major goal or dream. You have an environment that allows you to work on your success and allow you to make good decisions. If you are trying to achieve goals in an environment that is uninviting to what you are trying to achieve you are making unnecessary barriers for yourself.
Hi Adrian,
Yes! Your environment can be an unnecessary barrier to your success. I think it simply doesn’t occur to people that 1) their environment can be holding them back or 2) they can change it if they want to. So many people feel powerless and feel like life is happening to them. Thanks for commenting!
Allegra, I can sense the faith and vision in you while you were writing these words. It’s great to be in the company of other dreamers and visionaries! Thanks for going a step further to give us tips of the “How” of getting started. I liked what someone wrote about putting goals down on 3×5 cards and photos and carrying them in a binder to review often. Brian Tracy has also suggested writing goals in the forms of positive affirmations.
Hi Steve,
Thank you, kind sir! I have to admit, I have created small pictures of goals and synced them to my smartphone so I can look at them any time I feel like it. And I have recorded myself repeating affirmations and synced them to my phone also. I had not heard of the 3×5 cards but thanks for sharing another interesting idea. All valuable tools are welcome. Have a great week!
Hello Allegra,
I completely agree with you, we can learn plenty form small children. Especillay those who are not shy and speak openly. They are unforgivinging when we learn new langauges, they do not miss a trick unlike some adults who just let things lie! Children laugh and we know we’ve made a mistake! Sadie
Hi Sadie,
One of my favorite things about children is that they don’t seem to have hidden agendas. If they are thinking it, we know it! I hope you’re having a powerful week! Allegra
I believe that success comes to those who believe in themselves, work for what they want, and rid themselves of negativity.
On thing about children is that most of them easily forget and more easily forgive. Not holding on to bad thoughts allows us to “get out of our own way.”
Hi Shari,
Sometimes it sneaks up on me! And I pride myself on my time management skills. Children are SO resilient. I don’t question God but I sure wish he had let that stick around even after we ‘matured’. I work every day on reminding myself that embarrassment and ‘failure’ are not fatal. And I love to laugh so if I give myself lots to laugh at I will always be laughing.
Have a great week! Allegra