What is your big dream?

What are you working on accomplishing that for some reason just hasn’t happened . . . yet?

Write a book. Climb Mt. Everest. Run a marathon. Start your own company.

Dream attainment is hard work. Personally, I can easily get lured into thinking that everyone else, everyone except me, just has success fall into their lap. They half-heartedly pursue a few initiatives and magically stumble onto wild success.

The truth is, according to research conducted at Scranton University, only 8% of people achieve their goals. Yikes, those are not good odds!

Get charged up and get back to work on conquering your BIG DREAM!

1. Write out what you want. A few weeks ago I was handed some harsh feedback about my goal attainment work. It stung. The deliverer of the feedback accused me of not working “that hard” towards my dream. She accused me of not keeping my head down and suggested that I changed course too easily. While the feedback was tough and at some points cruel, it did shake me up in a positive way. Most importantly, it made me think! Instead of feeling sorry for myself, which I saved for a later date, I decided to take a page out of the work of Dr. Ross Greene, who works with teachers who educate behaviorally challenged students. He recommends that teachers first ask, “What is it you want? What behavior do you want from the child in your classroom?” Hmm!? This was the question that I needed to ask myself. I realized that not giving my all to my dream was in a sense “misbehaving.” My behavior wasn’t meeting my own standards in helping me achieve my goals. Ask yourself, “What behavior do I want? What behavior will help me fulfill my dreams?”
2. The second step in Dr. Green’s process is even more crucial: How do you get there? Construct a list of how to get to your dream. That list becomes your road map.
3. Prioritize your tasks. I find the Eisenhower Matrix Method especially powerful since for me, it’s tempting to spend the most time on the fun stuff — at least fun for me. Or, I decide that I will knock off the easy items on my checklist, and then I will have more time to focus on the important and maybe more fun items. This, too, has me waste precious time. The Eisenhower Method helps you focus on the important and urgent tasks by listing all of the various task items and then categorizing them as Urgent, Not Urgent, Important and Not Important. Now you can set your focus on the most urgent and important tasks that will help you fulfill your dreams.
4. Conduct an analysis of what Jim Collins in Good to Great calls the brutal facts. Collins’ website states, “you must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Take time periodically to evaluate the progress toward your goal and do a gap analysis. Then make a plan to fill the gaps. What do you need to learn more about? What do you need to practice? What do you need to delegate or hire out? For example, I could never have written my book without editors. This was a skill set I did not have. You might also consider hiring an expert to tutor you in the skills you need to learn. I also recently hired a coach to help me in one particular area of speaking. What skills do you need help with?
5. Expect setbacks. Use your Ad Campaign as outlined in my last blog to overcome setbacks when they happen because they will happen. Along with your personal Ad Campaign, practice gratitude. Both will help keep your positivity ratio up to that critical 3 to1 goal.

Brilliant dream completion is all about hard work!

I can’t think of a single Oscar, Grammy, or CMA award winner or Olympic, professional, or collegiate athlete who says the road to victory was easy. Most say they dreamed about success from when they were little; none say it was a cakewalk.

What are your big, brilliant dreams? Time to brush off those dreams and polish your brilliance with some hard work!