Define Your Dream
For many the most difficult part of reinventing yourself is deciding what it is that you truly want. In general, the older you are the more difficult this becomes. It is more of a challenge because you have had more time to forget about , hide or stuff away your dreams. Recreating that vibrant picture of who or what you want to become is imperative to the success of your reinvention efforts. Without a clear picture of what you want to become it will be nearly impossible to create a plan to help you get there. It is much easier to stay focused and hone your plan if you have a clear idea of what you want the end result to be. Regardless of whether you are 18 or 80, this is the first step.
Don’t let this part scare you. The one thing that you have to keep in mind is that your dreams are YOUR dreams and if you need to make adjustments, fine tune them or change them completely, that is OK. So let’s get started.
If you are fortunate enough to know exactly what it is that you want, then this is going to be really easy for you. However if you need a little help kick-starting the dream machine here are a few ideas to help you get going. First, take out a blank piece of paper and a pencil or pen. Set a timer or alarm for 10 minutes. Then start writing down everything that you can think of that you have ever wanted to be, have or do. Don’t worry about whether it sounds weird or not, just go for it. Do not stop writing until the timer goes off. If you find that the ideas are really flowing then, you don’t have to stop, BUT don’t quit before you have written for 10 minutes.
You might feel like you have run a marathon when you are finished with this. It’s OK, that was a lot of imagination that you put to work there. Read over your list and then take a break for at least several hours. Let your subconscious mind work on that list for a little bit. When you come back to the list, you may already know the answer to the next question. If not, that is OK, just read over the list one more time. Then pick out the top three ideas off the list – the three that just seem to stick out there. Don’t worry if you only have two or if you have four or five. We want to have at least a couple but not too many. We don’t want to be overwhelmed by picking too many things to work on at once. There is nothing that says you can’t come back to your list later after you have achieved one or two of these things and pick another one to work on.
Now that you have the top three or so, spend some time thinking about them. Imagine what your life would be like with these dreams in place. Think about why you want them, think about what makes these ideas more important to you, think about how it would change your circumstances, your attitude, your opinion of yourself, review every aspect of how these changes will affect you. Then after you have gone over it some more in your mind, sit down and create a detailed and in-depth picture of what achieving these dreams would look like for you on paper.
It is imperative that you clearly define what you want to become. If you only have a vague image of what it is, you will not be motivated to go after it. This image needs to be crystal clear. It is not unusual to have difficulty defining this completely. Usually one area will stick out and be a little easier to define than others. Focus on that area. The document that you have just made is not a finished product and unless you quit or die, it never will be. You will constantly go back and recreate the dream for yourself. Our needs and desires when we are young are very different than they are when we are older. So this document needs to change to reflect our maturity, our changing circumstances and to grow with us as we grow. Listen to Anthony Robbins
as he explains this from another point of view.
