Big dreams can be paralyzing. You’ve got this crazy burning desire to go forth and dazzle the world. For a brief, shining moment, you’ve got motivation in droves. You could conquer the world.
Now if only you had the money. Or the time. Or the educational background. Or any one of a million what ifs and wishful thinkings.
And, not surprisingly, nothing gets done. The dream never gets any closer. And eventually you forget, and move on, and your list of regrets gets just a little bit longer.
The problem is that big dreams get associated with big deeds, so we sit around and wait for chance of a lifetime to come around. But big breaks rarely come out of nowhere (winning the lottery is not a valid strategy for success). Most of the time, it takes hundreds of little concrete steps to set up that one huge opportunity.
One Step at a Time
It amazes me how easy it is to talk big, but never act. How easy it is to get wrapped up in the wonderful, romantic delusion of grandeur, without ever taking a single step forward.
You’ve heard of analysis paralysis. Let’s call this inspiration paralysis – the curious state of mind where the overwhelming awesomeness of the idea of success actually tricks you into standing completely still, as the oncoming truck of life prepares to run you over. (Yes, that was an incredibly convoluted sentence-slash-metaphor. It was on purpose. I swear.)
There’s one simple cure for inspiration paralysis, and it comes in two bite-size parts.
Here’s part one: Every single day, without fail, take at least one little, concrete step closer to your dream.
I know what you’re thinking. “Well, duh! Everyone knows that.”
Oh really? What have you done today to move forward? Planning in your head (or even on paper, most of the time) doesn’t count. Planning isn’t concrete; it sleeps in the magical realm of someday.
Saving up money doesn’t count either. Not unless you know exactly how much money you need, and not unless you know exactly how much you saved today. If your saving plan meets those conditions, kudos to you. Otherwise it’s just a convenient, wishy-washy cop out.
That brings me to inspiration paralysis cure part two: Make progress, not excuses.
The biggest excuse people have for not pursuing their dreams … is money. Or a lack thereof.
Come on. There are a thousand different ways to get closer to your dreams. And only about three of those ways require you to start off with a small fortune. If you don’t have money right now, start saving – and take some free steps forward in the meantime.
For example, if your dream is to travel abroad for a year:
- Start designing your itinerary.
- Do some research and estimate your transportation and living costs.
- Come up with a specific plan to help you raise that money.
- Learn a bit of the local languages.
- Read travel books and magazines.
- Get advice from people who have traveled on a limited budget.
All these things can be done now for free or at low cost, and all of them get you that much closer to your year-long stay abroad.
Let me end with a story.
A friend of mine always talks about making it big in the real estate business. Once, over lunch, I asked him what he had done so far to shore up his real estate career. “Well,” he said, “I almost invested in a house twice – but I decided against it because I want to save more money first.”
“How much more?” I asked him.
“I don’t know.”
I pressed further. “Money aside – what about inexpensive ways to advance your career? Have you set up a website for yourself yet? Maybe you should consider writing a real estate investment blog.”
“Well, I know those are good ideas, but I don’t want to distract myself by taking on too many things at once.”
Now, I’m a big advocate of focus, but in this case it sounded a lot like an easy way out of the conversation. What kind of convenient excuses are you making?
Your Turn
Writing this blog is one of the concrete ways I’m moving towards my dream.
What about you? What steps have you taken lately towards the things you want most? What helps you take those little concrete steps? What holds you back? Let’s chat in the comments.