Have you ever had a fantastic vision about how you would like your life to look? Maybe a great idea for a new business or a dream career that you wanted to explore? Were you so excited that you couldn’t wait to share it with friends, to have them be as excited as you were?
As you told your friends all the details about the vision that you held, the business you wanted to start, the book you wanted to write, the traveling you wanted to do you were met with a reply of “Yeh, well wouldn’t we all like that?” I can tell you it stops you dead in your tracks! All that enthusiasm and confidence in your dream can be very quickly drained away when talking to someone who doesn’t understand that your dream is even possible.
I think that one of the most important steps to creating the life that you want is to find the right support and know who it is that you should avoid.
The right people are those who are excited on your behalf, who ask you questions and allow your dream to unfold. Even more importantly these people challenge you and ask why you don’t dream bigger still. In my experience there are very few people who fall into this group so it can take some searching but I have to say that it is a wonderful experience when you do meet someone like this.
We all dream way too small.
The people to avoid are those that don’t like change. This doesn’t mean that they can’t still be good friends it simply means that they won’t be the right people to support your dream.
When I read stories of people doing inspiring things (I especially love my Life & Leisure magazine for this) I get really excited about those people and very interested in what they are doing and how they are doing it as it gives me ideas as to what I can do. More importantly it also gives me added confidence that anything is possible.
When you are looking for your dream lifestyle or job keep an eye on your own thinking as it can be all too easy to fall into the trap of being a dead end thinker. You know the kind of thinking that can happen, you hear about someone doing something amazing and you come up with excuses, “Oh its easy for her, she’s young”, “I could never do that, I don’t have the right education or qualifications”. These kind of thoughts are all about why your dream won’t work. Instead, look at the part of the story that you have difficulty with, step back from it and see if you can approach it in a different way. “Just how hard would it be to get that qualification?” Focus on how could make your idea work or think about the lesson you could learn from the journey that the other person has taken.
Sometimes we need to put aside what is realistic and instead focus on what might be possible.
“Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” Will Smith
Do watch out for your self doubts as you travel your journey as they can very quickly spiral to bring your dream to a halt. Once you learn to recognize your self doubts then you can talk yourself out of it. Even the most successful people have moments of doubt but the important thing is they keep moving forward.
