Dream On… 4 Steps To Start Reaching Your Goals

We all have dreams and goals, but it’s easy to forget them or sideline them when we dive into adulting with a 9-5, family responsibilities, etc. You might think it’s selfish or frivolous to focus on your dreams when you have “reality” to deal with. Or maybe you feel like you just don’t have the time.*?

It seems like sometimes we’re letting our dreams slip away in the name of complacency. ??

Some years back I was leading a team of incredibly talented, smart, and creative graphic designers and project managers. They were so good at the work they were doing, I worried a little that they might let themselves become too comfortable in an eat/sleep/work flow and forget all of the other things that they dreamed of doing in life. I saw an opportunity and, at the risk of them all thinking I was completely insane, I decided to have them explore their dreams and set some goals to achieve them.**

Over the next few days they wrote out their dreams (about 60 of them for each person), we set up 1:1 meetings to talk about them, and then we broke them down and chose a few to focus on right away. We mapped out next actions for those immediate focus goals and planned follow ups to see how things were going.

Within the first couple months, one person on the team had put her book out in the world that she’d felt stuck on. Another planned a big trip to Peru. Everyone was making moves and a few months later, one of the designers landed a new role in another company that would be a big step in the direction of reaching one of his professional goals. He even told me recently that he still pulls his dream sheet out every few months — that means the world to me.

In a subconscious way, I had brought one of my dreams to life by doing something to encourage the team to bring theirs to life and it’s one of the things that has brought me the most joy and that I am most proud of.

If you have become a little complacent (we all do), it might be time to explore your dreams again. Allow me to be your dream manager*** for a moment:

1. Download the dreams worksheet and try to fill in all the spots within each category: If it takes a couple days, that’s ok. Spend some time thinking about all of it and tap into your inner being that’s been a little pushed aside for a while. It doesn’t have to be perfect or even completely filled out, but don’t cheat yourself. And write them — don’t type them.?
2. Set timeframes: Step away from the list for a day or two and then look at it fresh to mark it up with timeframes — short term (within 12 months), medium term (1-5 years), long term (5 years or more)?
3. Break down the short term goals: Look at those short term goals and break them down into 1-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, and 9-12 months. These will be your focus points right away. Anything in the 1-3 month category gets your attention first and you can use the action plan sheet to map out the next action steps to achieve those goals. Write out everything you can think of, no matter how small of a detail it seems like — this will be your action plan.
4. Get started on achieving your dreams! Start checking off those action items and repeat for the next set when you’ve finished the first set.

?? Pro tip: find yourself a champion — someone that you’re setting time with to check in periodically. It’ll help keep you from sidelining your goals again. Even better if you find someone that will also work on their dreams so you can be accountable to, and root for, each other.?

Check back in on your longer term goals every few months, too. Usually your short term goals will be leading you down the path to achieving the longer term goals, but sometimes you’ll have some that are unrelated and you’ll want to be thinking about what’s needed to fulfill those over time.

I’ve been told I sometimes encourage the wildest dreaming and goal setting. Consider me doing that for you right now. Go crazy. Write down your dreams that feel realistic, of course, but go BIG, too. Don’t hold back!

I’d love to hear how this works for you and what your big dreams are! Tag the person you want to do this with in the comments and let’s get dreaming. I’m rooting for you! ??

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Jen Bennett is a Women’s CoLab contributor and creative in The Studio at Verizon. She is a nature enthusiast, dog mom, wellness and self improvement junkie, and a believer in PMA.

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Here’s a bunch of unnecessary footnotes for you ????

*Are you full of excuses? I am too. Most of us are. If you really want to live a life that feels full, though, you’re going to need to stop justifying them. Doesn’t mean life won’t happen or you won’t cave to an excuse sometimes — that’s inevitable. What we need to do is stop justifying when we do. See it for what it is, decide how to work around it, and move on. Watch 3 hours of TV every night? (????♀? Raising my hand — guilty.) Spend hours a day on social media? Stay in bed until the last possible minute before getting up for the day? Whatever it is, just know you can get a little creative and find the time to work on your dreams. Wake up an hour earlier. Give up the first hour of TV watching. Cut way down on that social media addiction! (Seriously — there’s good and bad of course, but it’s not all that good for you)?

**Confession: ????♀? I’m a self improvement junkie, a proud nerd who loves learning new things, and have a bit of a hippie heart so that all usually comes together in ideas that others might consider a little wacky at first. That said, set aside your hesitation and give this a try…you might surprise yourself.

*What’s a dream manager? Well I read this book called The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly at some point and it goes through this whole story about a company becoming the best it could be by helping its employees become their best selves through fulfilling their dreams. The book was meant to provide a solution to businesses dealing with employee dissatisfaction, but it struck me as something I’d love to help people do at some point regardless of it being business related.?

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