What is Dream Blueprinting?

Make imagination richer… and more practical

The future seems daunting— now more than ever when chaotic change makes control or even predictability beyond our grasp. We need better ways to deal well with whatever is coming…

You surely know about backward, or reverse, planning-- starting from the desired endpoint of an activity or project then working back, step by step, to where you are now. This improves focus and coordination, especially with complex, long-range efforts. It’s concrete and specific, which works fine for short-term, limited projects.? But backward planning’s value depends on how confidently we can predict and control the future. That’s tougher than ever these days.

Enter the powerful “Dream Blueprint.” It generates and focuses free-form imagination-- from the overall destination it expands, dream by dream, to specific actions and details. Anyone can become the architect, engineer, and resident of their own future.

First Steps

The basic idea is simple: start by dreaming, or fantasizing, about an ideal situation as it could be fully realized in the future. Dream about thematic aspects, such as options and results—the more fanciful, the better. Keep working into the dream, open to any notions and options. It enriches the whole project, but can be completed well under an hour.

You might want a large sheet of paper on hand to create a mindmap-like structure that records the dreams.? Since the dreams aren’t created in order, they’ll appear random at first. You can complete and organized this creative tableau for planning, or leave it as-is for inspiration as the project is underway.

A major benefit is that this adds lively satisfaction to the entire process, instead of treating each step as a chore toward a possible endpoint. Many studies have shown that building pleasure into each activity, rather than only focusing on the result, makes it easier to work well toward a desired result.

Dream blueprinting is:

·??????? Flexible and adaptable,

·??????? inspiring, enjoyable and aspirational,

·??????? A resource for creative problem-solving,

·??????? easy to discuss and refine,

·??????? a flexible way to connect various elements throughout the timeline,

·??????? naturally collaborative and team-building,

·??????? a better technique to energize inner drives.

Think about anyone whose character and impact you admire, especially a leader or innovator. They excelled because they started with a grand, if hazy, vision of the future and smaller dreams to achieve it. They then had levels and elements of dreams, adapting them as needed, as a source of energy and innovation. By honing the dreams on daily realities, both become more constructive. ?

The Source of Dream Blueprinting’s power

Daydreaming has many now-confirmed benefits, including brain plasticity, better memory, and motivation. Dream Blueprinting has the same benefits but is directed and applied.

It bridges our conscious and subconscious, linking the explicit with the emergent. In other words, it aligns all our strengths— revealing and linking capacities such as intuition, play, symbolic meaning, determination, and connection. It is four-dimensional, mixing idealism with realism over time.

Linked dreams let us envision, then approach, super-sized ambitions and aspirations. ?These inspire and energize us and those around us. When we make the dreams actionable and connected, it’s easier to construct that reality. It’s like an architectural blueprint that starts with a dream, identifies related dreams, then actions, then a home.

Concrete plans are needed, but constrain us. Think back to any successful planning process; people switched between the technical and the soaring— between planning and dreaming.

Consider separating the two, especially if you’re thinking big, or exploring unknown terrain, or just to innovate. All future planning will benefit if you develop and apply this mental skill.

Dream Blueprinting has a flexibility that ordinary planning can barely attempt. It can be wild and fanciful, or explicit and organized. ?Adapt each to your style and project characteristics. Backward planning is biassed toward specifications, while Dream Blueprinting nourishes aspirations.

Each dream in the blueprint is naturally positive and appealing, because that’s how we dream. ?This is especially empowering during today’s unpredictable, harsh conditions and external demands.? Because these dampen our ambitions and confidence, we need a positive counterweight.

Don’t impose rigid parameters or expectations. Instead, realize that dreams naturally change because of circumstances, surprises and opportunities, fresh insights and desires, etc. As a process rooted in the subconscious, it works best when dreams include all our senses as well as experience and emotion.

Allow various elements to arise in any order, then integrate them into an action plan.

How Can I Start?

Start to develop “practical dreaming” muscles by creating a limited blueprint on a small project that invite playfulness because there’s little at stake. For example, learning a new hobby you’ve wanted to try for some time. ?Then, up your dreaming game to bigger and more consequential projects.

The first step is dreaming of the ultimate accomplishment. Then identify smaller dreams within, or earlier, or later, than the big aspiration.? Each might be specific or fantastical . Don’t worry about sequence or structure at first. Instead, identify which dream naturally fits with another. Let your imagination loose on specific actions you aren’t taking but that might strengthen another level. Don’t be timid: make every dream larger than life, to expand your imagination and options. ?

Since judgment stifles imagination and aspiration, suspend all evaluation of the blueprint for as long as possible.

You will end up with a visionary schematic of the levels, including overall features, intermediate experiences, and links to actions to impacts.

Include dreaming about impacts, noting possibilities and how they flow to and from the larger dream. ?

You don’t need to do this in one sitting and on command, it’s better to ruminate and add items to the blueprint. It might be easier when falling asleep or waking up. ?Because none of this is linear, be ready for the process to take at least a day or two and be ready to be surprised.

It’s unlikely to come naturally, since the idea of practical dreaming contradicts the mechanistic, structured way we’re usually taught to use imagination. I think you’ll quickly find it a refreshing, constructive new way to energize your life.

A Valuable New Technique

Dream Blueprinting is

a)????? experiential and emotional, not logical and analytical,

b)???? open to fanciful impossibilities that are enjoyable in themselves,

c)????? a source of solutions and growth,

d)???? likely to reveal surprising options,

e)???? playfully loose, creative and fantastic.

My free Dream Blueprinting worksheet, including more hands-on suggestions, will help you personalize, record, and apply practical dreams. Just write me here or at [email protected] if you’d like one as a PDF, Word or Google Doc.

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