Creating Your Dream: 6 Easy Steps to Getting Clear About Your Dream

"I don't know what my dream is."

"I have too many dreams."

"I don't have the time to dream; I got bills to pay."

These are some typical responses I hear from my clients and workshop participants. Sound familiar?

Most of us get so bogged down by life's minutiae that dreams slip out of sight. The first thing you need to do is shake the dust off your dream. Getting clear on your dream is the first step to creating it.

• Ask yourself what your big dream is, the one you have to get done before you die. If you have two or three or four dreams, prioritize them. Choose the one that's most important to you.


• Why do you want this dream? If your dream is to start a bakery, is it only because you love chocolate cake made by you? Or, is your dream connected to something bigger, like, providing employment to disadvantaged women? Knowing your "why" will help you stay on track even on off days.


• Think specifics. Where will this bakery business be located? Do you plan to rent a physical space for it? Or will you run it from home and make it an online business? Give it a name. Come up with a product line. Is there an unexplored niche you can carve out like "all-natural" ingredients? DO you have a business plan?


• When do you plan to get this venture started? A dream is a goal with a timeline, as Dr.Phil likes to say. "Someday" dreams never get done. Set doable weekly, monthly and annual goals to meet your targets.

• Who will buy from you? This will determine your pricing strategy and branding. Are you looking at an elite market? Or, do you see yourself as the friendly neighborhood baker whose creations remind people of Grandma's home-made recipes and taste?


• How does the success of this dream look to you? Think from the end for a moment. Imagine the ideal scenario where this dream has come to fruition. Visualize all the details. Where will you be then? What does your life look like? How have people been served by your dream? When you get clear about this, every decision you make along the way will be guided by it.

I've used a bakery business as an example here, but these concepts can be used to flesh out any dream-whether it is writing a book, owning a home, going on a cruise, or even finding the love of your life.

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