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Is it time to give up your pipe dream?

 smoke-69124_640“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”– Tony Robbins

 

Do you have a goal or dream that feels so big you have no idea how to accomplish it? Sometimes the gap between where we are now and where we’d like to go feels so huge that we have no idea how we would ever get there. When that’s the case, we give our dream a special name. We call it a pipe dream.

But it’s not really fair to call our dreams names just because we don’t know how to achieve them.

So instead of reverting to name-calling, let’s see what can be done to actually create a plan to go after your goal.

Here’s an exercise you can use. In three simple steps you can take any pipe dream a

nd break it down into manageable steps that you can accomplish relatively easily.  In this example, I’ll use the goal of “becoming a best-selling author.”
Step 1. De-personalize it.  Just like the kids that call names on the playground, we call our dreams names when we feel scared of them. So to stop feeling scared, try to step outside the problem. Instead of thinking, “How in the heck am I going to become a best-selling author?” ask, “What would someone have to do in order to be a best-selling author?” Removing yourself from the equation, along with your fears, inadequacies, and problem-focused  thinking helps you to unleash your creativity on the topic. Your conscious and subconscious mind will go to work on the problem, instead of churning up a whole bunch of fears that will hold you back.
Step 2. Write your goal down. The act of committing it to paper pins it down and makes it more real. When you write it, you clarify it and commit to it on a new level. For the purpose of this exercise, just write one goal (you can repeat the exercise for as many dreams as you want). For example write: “become a bestselling author” not “become a bestselling author and speak to audiences worldwide, changing lives and creating innovation.”  It gets too muddy. Just keep it simple.
Step 3. Backtrack. Ask yourself, before I can become a bestselling author, what has to be done?
It might look something like this:Before becoming a best-selling author, what has to be done? Become a published author.Before becoming a published author, what has to be done? Get published.Before getting published, what has to be done? Write a book.

Before writing a book, what has to be done? Set aside time to write.

Before setting aside time to write, what has to be done? Clear up my schedule.

Before my schedule can be cleared, what do I have to do? Delegate tasks that aren’t important.

What can I do to delegate tasks? Make a couple of phone calls.

You can keep doing this until you get to a task that is so manageable that you can do it today or at least this week. And then do it. You’ll probably have to repeat this exercise countless times on your journey toward your pipe dream, and the path to goals isn’t always so linear. But this process will give you a format to begin thinking about how to take the first step toward what you want, instead of staying stuck in a state of overwhelm about how you could ever do something so huge.  

The beauty of working backwards

Instead of standing on this side of the chasm and wondering with fear how you are going to make the leap, you can project into the future, as if you’re already there and then understand what was already accomplished to to achieve the big dream. It takes the fear out of the equation which then allows you to tap into your creativity.

If someone gave you the list right now of tasks and goals you’d have to accomplish before realizing your big dream, you’d probably faint on the spot. But by working backwards, constantly revising, and breaking it down into tasks that you can do today, you can achieve it.

It’s time to give up your pipe dream. Pipe dreams never become reality.

But when you change your pipe dream into manageable goals, you can do whatever you dream of.

 

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Entrepreneurs, Fun, Inspiration, Life Path, Passions

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