How You Can Make Your Life a Dream - Goals

A lot of people - probably most of us - have at some point dreamed of being especially outstanding. Fantasies of being the star player on a team, or the homecoming queen, or fantastically rich - all these abound. Some simply want to be successful and have happy relationships.

Of all these big dreams and personal goals, too many times these dreams just remain as dreams. For all our desire to aspire, they simply gather mental dust over the ages. Even though from time to time we dust them off to longingly look at them.

Recognizing the presence of this unfulfilled need could become a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we realize that we are only experiencing the humdrum routine of living from day-to-day -- just barely existing.

Did you ever think that could be reversed? What about changing those dreams into reality through action?

Most people stop working to achieve any goal because they believe in a little white lie called "impossible." People have a lot of phrases to justify taking no action toward their goal: "I can't do this." or "It's too hard." "It's too unrealistic." "No one can do this."

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

For instance, you may recall the baffled scientists who first tried to apply aerodynamic principles to the lowly bumblebee. In theory, they said, it was simply impossible for the bee to fly. Of course, the moral of the story is that no one ever got around to telling the bee that - so it simply flies as it ever has.

The real self-imposed limit is where people suffer from dreaming outrageous dreams and then never act on them. The result is what we've seen above - broken dreams and bored lives in front of TV sets.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you may deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without taking any real action towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Try this exercise: Take a sheet of paper and write down the main goals you wouldn't mind achieving. Make three headers -Things you know you can do; Things you might be able to do; and Things which are impossible to do.

Now work out the steps you can see right now that would help you achieve that goal. Put them under each header according to how hard you think they are to attain or achieve.

Now every day, review that goal statement and see that dream in your mind again. Then, look over that list under "Things you know you can do" and get some of those done that day. And look over "Things you might be able to do" and see if you can get some of those done somehow.

As you continue to accomplish more items in the first and second column, you may find yourself better at getting things done. Start looking over that third column, "Things that are impossible to do" and see if now some of these don't look a littlel more possible. Then get the easiest ones done.

Moving through this process, you may find that the goals you once considered impossible are now far more realistic and doable. The impossible has begun to look possible.

You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic. Break that star-high goal into little tiny steps which you can do right now. As you get these done, then you'll find that the 'might be able to do' steps are also able to be accomplished when you break them down. After awhile, you can see that nothing is particularly impossible to achieve.

It's only those who dream and never take action who inherit disappointment and disillusionment.

Skyscrapers were once thought impossible. Flying machines were impossible. Television was impossible. Going to the Moon was originally impossible. However, all these dreams were made into reality by simply breaking down those goals into smaller doable steps and then taking action.

No matter what dreams you have for your life - if you keep them in front of you as a goal, and keep those doable steps listed out, as long as you plan your work and work your plan - then nothing is really impossible. Keep to this strategy and win!

Because your life could be a dream - if you really you want it to be.

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Known for extensive writing in self-help and personal development, Dr. Robert C. Worstell (see author interview) has just published a New Age fiction book, "The Dreamer Dreamed" which explores the concept of how life could be a dream, among other ideas. This book employs his understanding of various spiritual meaning books and research.