I met Lisa two years ago at a networking event. She worked at a small graphic design company but said she really wanted to be a personal trainer. I offered to virtually introduce her to a west coast friend who was a personal trainer if she would share her email address with me. She said she didn’t have any cards with her that contained her email so she would email me. She didn’t.
Six months ago, our paths crossed again at another networking event, a round robin table style. Lisa told the ten women seated at our table that she worked in graphic design and was checking into becoming a personal trainer.
A week ago we were seated together at a luncheon, and a table mate asked Lisa what she did. She said she was in graphic design and was seriously thinking about becoming a personal trainer.
After lunch, I asked Lisa if she might be interested in the introduction to my friend. That way she could get some insights about the personal trainer business to help with her decision-making process. She said she knew she needed to do that but just hadn’t taken the time to make it happen.
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Hopes and dreams bring us light and opportunity. Without them, our lives lose luster. Yet without action, dreams always remain dreams. Sometimes those dreams are happy thoughts, other times they become a bitter regret.
If you see a little bit of Lisa in your situation:
•Have a chat with yourself: is this something I still want to do, or has talking about it become a habit?
•If you want to follow your dream, write down your goal and establish a reasonable timeframe for making it so. Put this little piece of paper or message someplace where you will see it every day.
•If you’re still passionate about your dream, do something proactive. Schedule an informational interview. Request a brochure. Make a phone call or send an email. Sign up for a class. Buy a book on the topic. Make a schedule of things you need to do. The super important thing is to do something now. Take that intangible dream and start making it real with action and outcomes you can see, touch, hear. Do one thing every day to move your dream closer to reality.
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley
•Do a personal inventory of every barrier, reason, excuse or whatever that keeping you from making your dream come true. Do you fear failure? Are you afraid of success? Are you waiting for something to happen? Are you listening too much to your inner critic? Whatever your roadblock, find a way over, around, or through it.
•Get an accountability buddy. Share your dreams and what you’ll do to make the dream come alive. Make a pact to talk about concrete action you’ve both taken. Give each other the “danger zone signal” if/when you slip back into talking about what you plan to do instead of doing. Be unstoppable.
•Be OK in being vulnerable…know when to give up on your dream. Holding on too long can make you bitter. And, sometimes, when you let go of what you haven’t made happen, a brand new, perfect opportunity opens up right before your very eyes.
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. ~J.B. Priestly
