How to Turn Your Dream Into a Plan

What’s the coolest thing you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t done? Have you always wanted to live in Los Angeles? Pursue your dream career? Lose weight? Climb Mt. Everest? Become rich? Here’s a question: Why haven’t you? Dreams can be powerful, encouraging and even a bit scary. A dream alone, though, isn’t going to get you far. What you need is a plan. And if that sounds too boring, think of it this way: if you want to actually have that dream, a plan is the map that gets you there. So here is how to Turn Your Dream Into a Plan!

let’s check out How to Turn Your Dream Into a Plan

Step 1: Write Down Your Dream

First, you should be able to determine your goals and ask yourself: Where do I want to be next year? What do I need to do to accomplish these goals? Your answers instantly become your learning agenda.

How many of your dreams have you actually written down? The act of putting something into words on paper (or in a computer document) suggests that you’re committing to it – and this can be very powerful in helping you eventually achieve that dream. Even better, when you write something down, you’re forced to think it through. That vague dream of “have lots of money” has to become something firmer and pinpoint– perhaps “make $100,000/year” or “have $200,000 in the bank”.

Step 2: Step #2: Brainstorm Some Possibilities

Whatever your dream, there’s more than one way to reach it. So it’s very useful to identify all the possible ways you could think of to make that dream possible. For instance, if you want to make lots of money, you could:

Change careers to something more lucrative

Work harder in your current job to get a promotion

Go back to college and study for a degree

Start up your own business as an entrepreneur

Save up money and put it into a high-interest account

Marry someone rich

Buy a winning lottery ticket

There are lots of possibilities (and I hope you can see that some of those ones are a bit more realistic than others!) When you’re brainstorming, include all the ideas that come to mind – even ones which seem silly or impractical. You might find that a “stupid” idea leads you on to a really good one.

Step 3: Begin with the most important.

If you have a lot of dreams, you should peak just one at a time! Don’t start with the hardest or the easiest. What is the most important thing you can do right now? Evaluate and then rank them according to value. You might decide, for instance, that your goal is to change to a particular career which will give you a $80,000/year paycheck. Look for a goal which is perhaps challenging, but achievable. There’s no point in picking a goal which you’re convinced you can’t really manage – that’s just going to put you back in the world of dreams, where you constantly think about a better future without taking any action towards getting there.

Check out “How to overcome fear of failure” HERE

Step 4: Give Yourself a Deadline

It’s much easier to hit your goals when you’re working towards a deadline. Again, you want to be realistic here – but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself a little. If you’ve got a really big goal, you might want to look two – five years ahead. With smaller goals, you can probably achieve them within a year.

With the example of changing career, you might decide that three years is a realistic timeframe. It’s often helpful to tie your deadline to a particular event – perhaps your 25th birthday.

Step 5: Write Down the Steps to Get You There

And now we’re onto the plan itself. This is where you really get into the nitty-gritty and start turning that dream into something real.

With big goals, it’s often helpful to work backwards. So:

What are the job requirements of that new career?

How can you achieve them (e.g. take night classes)?

Are there any pre-requisites for that (e.g. you need some money to pay for the classes)?

How can you do that?

You should be able to get to a clear step which lets you move forwards from where you are, such as “save $20/week for six months”.

If you have any steps which you don’t know how to complete, try breaking them down further. Figure out exactly what you need to do to achieve your dream – and you’ve got a plan which really can change your life.

Step 6: Identify your limiting beliefs.

We all have them. When you identify them, they begin to lose their power. Don’t doubt your dream.

I’m too young.

I’m too old.

I don’t have the time.

I don’t have the money.

I never follow through.

Someday I’ll…

Every time you do something you didn’t think you could do, your confidence is built. Action leads to confidence more than confidence leads to action.

Confidence = Positive Self-Regard + Competence

One without the other will not equate to confidence. You need to build on both. And it’s not an overnighter. It’s day in and day out—building one day at a time. You can choose what you will believe, and it will shift your mindset to be clear on the action you will take.