Bill Riddell

The Vital Steps to Make your Dreams Come True

If you followed my previous post you should now have a great big list of all your dreams.

Well done – if not go back and do it. You can thank me in a few years time.

Now it’s all well and good to write out your list, but it’s just the first step. There is plenty more to go.

You have figured out what you want to do – now you need to consider the following:

How are you going to do it. Big goals in particular can be intimidating so the best way to make them seem more achievable is to break them down in steps.

Let’s use the goal of climbing Mt Everest. You need to do your research (when is the best time of year to go), find people to climb with, do plenty of training, get the right equipment, book tickets, fly over and find a Sherpa – then your probably ready to head for base camp.

Write down a few notes next to each entry breaking it down like I described. If you can’t answer that question now put an asterisk (*) next to it and make sure you research it later so that you can write down roughly how you will do it.

What do you need to achieve it. This fits in with How, but having the resources to complete the goal is often vital, so I’m giving it a special mention.

Some may require large amounts of money to complete – so obviously they will have to wait until you save up or find an alternative source, such as sponsors or a loan.

Others may require a higher fitness level than you currently have. So you will need to hit the gym before attempting your goal.

When are you going to do it. I have an ultimate limit on my goals; I want to achieve them all before I turn 60. Ideally I want to cross them all off much sooner than that, but 60 is the absolute deadline. You should set a deadline for your goals as well.

But that is not enough, I want you to go through your list and look for ones that have other time limits on them. Some may be heavily dependent on you having good health – its difficult (though not impossible) to maintain peak fitness into your 40’s and 50’s. So any goals that require peak fitness should have deadline before your fitness will start to decline.

Other goals may have a time limit to them. If one of your goals is to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing then obviously your deadline is pretty short. You should get serious right NOW.

Finally the most important part of the process:

Just do it. Writing it down and planning it out is great, but it all amounts to nothing unless you take the plunge and get it done. So take action and complete your goals.

Not only do I enjoy actually achieving my dreams, but the joy of crossing it off the list is also pretty cool.

I look at my list regularly and review what I want to do, adding and removing things as I go.

Each year I try and narrow down a few goals I want to complete. I look through the list and if I have the necessary resources and other circumstance suit then I will short list those goals and focus on them. However I don’t neglect those that do not make the yearly shortlist – sometimes things just fall into place.

Do not be afraid to ditch a goal if it no longer appeals. I realise some things are no longer important to me, or that I really wasn’t serious about doing what I had written. Our priorities and dreams change, so to should your list.

However do not cross of anything because it is too hard. You will be robbing yourself of something important. Instead spend some more time breaking down the steps to achive it- take those baby steps. Do some research, find someone to complete the goal with you, talk to someone who has already achieved it.

As I learn about new things and receive inspiration from others new goals are added. Just as you lose passion to complete your existing goals you will gain the desire to add and complete new goals.

Now get out there and make your dreams come true.