How to turn dreams into goals

Turn dreams into goals

A lot of us don’t have real, concrete goals. Instead, we have “dreams.” Dreams are just a vision in our heads of how we want to be. They’re beautiful to think about but aren’t worth much more than that.

Instead, we should have goals. Goals are aspirations based in the real world. There is a path to a goal that we can follow, and with hard work, careful planning, and a little bit of luck, we can reach them.

So how do we go about turning our lofty dreams into real, achievable goals?

1. Doing Things Right

It all starts with the way we choose to approach things. It’s easy to make a half hearted effort and just breeze through life, but for those of us who want more, we have to take things just a little more seriously. Everything matters. Your diet, your hygiene practices, even the way that you treat others all have an impact on your chances of success.

The reason these things are so important is that it develops the right mindset. If you get accustomed to putting effort into what you do, it carries over to everything else in your life. It also helps you to make better judgement calls about where to invest your time. After all, when you do things right, your time is valuable.

2. Develop the Right Skillset

You will need to be active in developing the right skillset for what you’re trying to achieve. This goes hand in hand with doing things right.

You should always be looking for ways to improve. Read and watch videos about your topic. Talk to those further along on your chosen path than you as well as those in other fields, but with specific knowledge that you fell you can benefit from. Most importantly, put in a lot of time just beating on your craft.

Usually the process looks like this: you start working, and eventually you come across an obstacle. You do research and ask questions to get the information that you need to continue on, then you get back at it until you meet with the next road block. Rinse and repeat.

Frankly, trial and error is overrated. Maybe you’d like to be able to say that you did it all on your own, but what can you say about all that time and energy that went to waste by being stubborn?

3. Keep a Journal

This is extremely important. If you don’t take anything else from this article, take this. You need to keep a hard copy of the process. This will where you will take note of difficulties and write down thoughts. It is also where you will set up a list of tasks to complete every day, week, month, and even year.

Keeping track of things like this is vitally important. It is far to easy to get caught up in one thing or another, and lost sight of the big picture. Taking a step back everyday and writing your thoughts down is how you will organize yourself, and keep mental clarity in your plan, your process, and your progress.

4. Create a Plan

This is where you turn your dream into a goal. Those with a plan go from point A to point B. Those with no plan go from point A to the middle of nowhere.

A good plan includes not only a set of actions that get you to where you want to go, but also back up strategies, and other “what ifs.” You should also have at least a basic idea of things like timing, workload, and cost(if relevant).

5. Pick a Pace

You have to be realistic in the pace of development that you choose. Most of us have other commitments like jobs and family. You’ll need a pace that fits in snugly with the amount of free time that you’ll have available to you.

You also need to worry about burnout. You might feel great about getting a lot done in a short time, but push to hard and you’ll break down, leading to a lot of wasted time and frustration. On the other hand, if you don’t push the pace hard enough, you’ll experience slow progress, putting a damper on your motivation and passion for your work.

To make things easier, there should be a focus on efficiency. Think about how you can make things go more smoothly. Your goal is to get more done in less time. What you should never do is cut corners. This will lead to shoody work that won’t get you the kind of results that you want. Again, no matter what you do, do it right.

6. Stay Motivated

No matter what it is you’re trying to do, it will get a little old after a while. There will be a lot of repetition involved and it will eventually turn into much more of a chore than a passion. Find whatever gets you motivated; whatever gives you that fire in your belly that makes you want to achieve and conquer. Give yourself a shot of passion whenever you’re feeling low, than quickly jump right back into it.

And that’s what it takes to turn a dream into a goal. If you think it’s too hard, it isn’t for you, simple as that. But, if you’ve got the guts to try, there’s no better time to start than right now.

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SeriousC