Today I want to encourage you to believe in yourself, and give you some tools to help you make your dreams a reality! You must believe in the dream that you have visualized for yourself. You can make your dreams a reality! Whatever it is that you want to do is within reach, but it is a process…
Muhammad Ali put it this way:
“It’s a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.“
So what do you need to do to achieve your dreams? Well, you need to start with a few things.
1. Have a Vision
2. Set a Game Plan
3. Expect & Prepare for Success
Vision
This means your eyes are wide open even when you feel blind.
You must have a vision so strong that you can play what it looks, tastes and feels like in your mind. I`m not talking about waking up one night from a crazy dream and going for it (though some may do that), but I am talking about the plays & replays in your mind of your dream becoming a reality. Something so wanted that you already know what it’s going to feel like and mean to you once you accomplish that goal.
You create your destiny.
Game Plan
Write Down Your Goal(s)
Set a Game Plan – How many innings do you have to swing in this game? How many quarters do you have to make something happen this game?
Truth be told, you will not get far without a plan. Without a plan you do not know your focus or where the work, time and energy needs to be invested. You MUST have a game plan. Plain and simple. So how do you do that? Include a time frame for achieving that goal. Be as specific as possible!
Example: My goal is to become the top sales consultant in my region within 6 months, and sell at least $50,000 within that time frame.
Now, you know where you’re going. Set a specific measurement (in this case a dollar amount – money). You can’t get somewhere unless you know exactly what it will take to be the best. If the top sales consultant sells $45,000 in a 6 month average, then you know that you need to at least sell $50,000 to be at the top.
Now, expand that goal. Don’t stop there.
HOW are you going to get there? What sacrifices are you willing to make for that time period?
WHY do you want to achieve this goal? This is the single most important aspect of making something happen. You have to realize WHY you want something. Do you want to be top in sales so you can pay off your debt, or maybe propose to your girlfriend, or maybe to give your wife the honey-moon you two never took, or maybe to invest in your child’s college fund. Whatever the reason(s) – Be specific.
The WHY is what you`ll write down, and always go back to on the days that you really don’t feel like giving an effort. The days that you’re tired, doubting, or just not feeling it. If you are specific and honest in this process you will find yourself motivated by the prize. Although, the prize is not your focus. Like ET the Hip Hop Preacher puts it “Your focus should be the process, not the prize… When you focus on the process and get that right, the prize will come later.”
Expect & Prepare for Success
It’s Coming!
This is crucial! This is the DOING portion of achieving where you implement your game plan. You must now follow through and put in to motion the process of working toward your goals. You gotta work!! Where you’re starting now, does not have to determine where you`re going. Although, where you’re at now is because of the choices that you have made. So choose wisely moving forward.
Nothing good will come to you sitting around, watching tv, staying stagnant day in and day out, or feeling sorry for yourself. Who does that help? No one! So many people say that they want to achieve a goal, but what are they doing to make their dream a reality? Nothing!! Do not be this person.
To expect success means that you have the faith in knowing that your day is coming! You know the end result is within reach.
To prepare for success, you have to know and DO whatever it takes to get there. Hard work. No way around it.
Some days will be hard. You`ll be tired, but you cannot negate the faith that your day is coming no matter how hard it gets. Once you doubt yourself, you will create an internal downward cycle of negativity, and if you let that consume you, you will not accomplish what you’ve set out to do. If you find yourself in this place, you need to turn your attitude around, and replace those negative thoughts with affirmations of success.