Big Ideas and Small Plans - Make it Happen!

We all have big dreams for our future. Even if you have recently fulfilled a big dream, your mind will naturally wander to the next thing – because I can now do this, I can probably do that too.

Whenever you have a moment of quiet your mind will wander and wonder… what if…

Perhaps the ‘what if’ is a problem that you need to get over, or a lifelong desire to own your perfect home/have the perfect body/pay your mortgage* delete as applicable. Whatever it is, do you believe you can achieve it? Do you believe you can actually get to that place, where you can say ‘I did it!’

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Every achievement you have ever created has started with a thought. One that built into a big dream and that you nursed in your quiet moments and reassured yourself that one day it would be yours. I remember at 18 years of age planning my dream home, what it would feel like when I walked in the front door, what the smells would be coming from the kitchen, how big the garden would be. It was a beautiful dream sent me to sleep most nights and one that I eventually fulfilled ten years later. Despite, might I say, ridicule from others when I had told them my dream, as they said I was crazy to think it was possible. ‘People like us don’t have places like that’ – wow, what limiting belief was that!!!

Now I am told I was using the power of attraction by visualising it. I don’t know it that is true, all I know is what works for me and now at 58 years of age I am confident that if I can visualise what I want then I can create it – and I do.

But I am a practical person. I realise that dreaming alone will not bring my big idea into reality.

Image by Randalyn Hill

Fuel it with passion

I desperately wanted that house; it was a symbol that I had escaped my past of a hand to mouth existence. It meant I had made it; I was financially secure and would know who I was, no longer defined by my background of where I had come from. When I moved in with my husband and daughter, we were still struggling and were pushing ourselves to the absolute limit to get it. We agreed, if we only managed to stay for a year, it would be a bonus. That we had been there at all was my dream come true. We stayed for 24 years, extended it twice and it became better than I had ever dreamed possible.

Get focused

Keeping your big idea as a dream, not telling anyone, not doing the research, not asking for help, will lock your dream inside of you where it may die. If you are truly passionate about it, then a little piece of you will die too. So, share your big idea. Tell people about your dream, ask for their advice, get some solid facts behind you, do your research – what will it cost, time and money, and how long will it take?

Have a plan

KISS – Keep It Simple Sunshine – start with an A4 sheet and brainstorm the basics

·???????Why you are doing it

·???????Who will help you

·???????Time frame

·???????Potential costs

·???????Things you will need to find out about your project

·??????????

Then take each point into its own A4 sheet and add more detail. At the end of each sheet create one action point. One teeny tiny point to move you nearer to your dream.

Get agreement

Doing any major project alone is unnecessary and illogical. Having support both physical and emotional is critical to your success. The people you enrol into this project do not need to be as passionate about it as you, but often are very willing to be part of the plan, so they can say they were a part of it. I could not have written my books without a team of people supporting me. Also going public with your idea on social media is a great motivator – no one wants to be the guy who said they would write a book and then never get it finished.

We all need to have discipline and accountability if we want to get into action.

Kraken Images

Create a time plan

I know so many people who say they have this grand idea and then years later they are no further forward. Time will keep on marching, you have to make the time to work on your dreams, or you will be THAT person on their death bed with regrets.

SO HAVE A TIME PLAN!

It can always be tweaked, life happens, but start with a timeline you feel you can achieve and then you create your own urgency. This plan cannot be vague, it must include what you want to achieve by the end of the decade (for big projects) and the year, month, and week. By chunking it down you see what is actually doable.

image by Erda Estremera

Get in Action

Obvious, right? Make it easier on yourself by finding a project management app where you can add all the relevant information. Often there is a community that goes with the app – for example if you are looking to get healthier there will be Facebook groups that support this. Finding others on the same dream as you will really help as they can keep you accountable.

Doing one small thing EVERY DAY will create massive results – we all know this. Yet when our dream is so big, we feel it might never happen, we often feel we can do that one small thing tomorrow, or the next day.

It depends how much you truly want it.

Moving into my dream house was only one of my dreams and it took me 10 years to fulfil, but every day I was moving closer towards it.

Don’t wait until New Year to make a resolution, it can happen any day, but do it soon, and make it happen, make your dream come true.?

If you would like some help to make your dream come true, connect up with the Collaboration Global community who are passionate about helping each other fulfil their purpose. Link in first comment.