Dare to Dream! 5 tips to avoid getting in your own way!

Ask yourself:

What great achievement/dream would you pursue right now, if you were guaranteed to succeed?

Considering a new approach to life or a new shape to your career is not a commitment to change, it’s not a solid move in any one direction. It simply opens up your thinking and opens up possibilities for yourself and your future.

Feelings of fear and excitement accompany our dreams – a fear of failure or even more common, a fear of success….’what would others think of me’ is often what people focus on. Where does that get you? We all have very loud voices inside our heads  that stop us the minute we start thinking ‘I can achieve something’.

This inner critic often says things like:

• ‘Who do you think you are’?
• ‘Don’t be ridiculous, that would never work out’
• ‘That’s just foolish considering your responsibilities’
• ‘I’d never be good enough’
• ‘As if, stop dreaming and get back to work’

Do these sound familiar? 

All too often we stop ourselves from really exploring in our minds – we throw up obstacles and doubt as if they’re fact, allowing no room for our imagination.

Here are my 5 tips to avoid getting in your own way:

1. Give yourself the permission to dream. Unless you allow yourself to really imagine a life that will bring you happiness, you can never figure out how to make it happen. Dream big – let your ideas take shape so that step by step, they can become a reality.
2. Start at the beginning, you don’t have to have all the answers at once – by simply looking into one aspect of a career change or some market research on an idea you have, you are giving energy and space to possibility, not making major changes overnight.
3. Ignore the practical ‘buts’ and ‘what ifs’ for now. Of course the practicalities of life are a major factor in our decision making, and sometimes out of our control. They will impact on your final choices and decisions but they have no place in your imagination/dreams.
4. Inaction is always unproductive. By not dreaming, not seeking, not doing, you are definitely setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. You will end up with that ‘what if’ niggly feeling and not much else.
5. Recognise your inner critic’s voice and disable it by living in the now. Your inner critic loves the past and future but is not so stable in the here-and-now.

No one ever achieved anything without first dreaming about it.

Remember: ‘You must make a choice to take a chance on change’ – Zig Ziglar.

Step aside out of your own way.