ONCE UPON A DREAM; On Making Dreams Come True

Writing your Goals down aids manifestation

Someone once said of me "What most people only dream of doing, Marie actually does."  I am well known for my ability to make my dreams come true and for making my ambitions my day to day reality.  It is not a secret that I keep to myself - I am very happy to share my process - but one thing I have discovered over the years is that oftentimes, people prefer to dream.

In taking steps to make an ambition reality you run the very real risk of failure.  While ever the ambition remains a pipe-dream, bolstered by excuses of why you can't do it (children being the great get-out clause for many women) you are safe from the sting of rejection and failure.  Its a very negative form of self-preservation.  It will certainly keep you safe from failure, but it will keep you from any degree of success too. And what are you teaching your kids if you use them as an excuse for why you cannot be/have/do something?  It has always seemed to me that giving birth is the best way for women to avoid life.

So how do you make a dream come true?  First you need to ask yourself if it is a pipe-dream and something you occasionally think about from time to time;  or if it is indeed a viable ambition and something you feel born to achieve.  Everyone has pipe-dreams and there is nothing wrong with this.  It is fantastic exercise for the imagination.  You will know whether or not you have a pipe-dream as opposed to an ambition because you will find any excuse to avoid making the dream reality, or you will expect other people to make the dream come true for you - this is called Entitlement or Nepotism. 

With a genuine ambition you will be fully prepared to put the work in yourself to achieve it.  You will make sacrifices for the good of your dreams and you will be fully prepared to do it on the back of your own name, talent, and personal efforts.  In short, you will do the leg work.  If you are not prepared to do all of this, for months and even years at a time before achieving success, then you are a pipe-dreamer, not an achiever. 

I have always been a big fan of goal setting.  At the end of every year I write down a list of goals I want to achieve during the next 12 months and I keep this list in my diary.  As I achieve each goal, I tick it off on the list and put the date of when that particular goal was achieved. I have done this every year, for about 20 years, which is why I have achieved most of my lifetime ambitions.  On looking over my 2013 list I realized that of the 21 goals I wrote down, only 5 remain as yet unfulfilled.  Any goals that still remain by New Years Eve will go straight to the top of my 2014 list, with new goals added below.  

Some of my goals are smaller steps towards a larger goal.  I have always found that this is the best way to make a dream come true.  First I dismantle the dream, breaking it apart into smaller, more manageable goals. These goals are written on my list in my diary, to keep me achieving and working towards the dream, for at least the duration of that year.  It also makes the dream seem less distant, more manageable.  Break the dream apart and put it back together again, one step at a time.

If you have never tried goal setting, you might be surprised at how much you can get done in a year, just by planning ahead.  Over the next few weeks think, of what you want to do next year and then take the time to write down your personal/family targets.

In order to become successful in any field, you must first of all make space for achievement in your life.

Bon Chance!