“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” ~ Mario Andretti
Almost everyone has a dream of being more and doing more. Most of them never move beyond where they were when the had the dream. So, what is the key to turning dreams into reality? What is the difference in those who do move into their dreams and those who remain in their current circumstances. Today’s post focuses on one of the top reasons that so many people fail to capture the potential of their dreams.
It is my experience that one of the key reasons we don’t experience the dreams we have is that we fail to Engage. We look at our dreams, admire them, think about them, talk about them, but we never take the action necessary to achieve them. Until we do take that action, we do not get the results.
All too often, we fear commitment because we are not sure we know HOW to fulfill it. However, something really amazing happens when a person crosses the line of whole-hearted commitment. First, you begin to have thoughts of HOW to make the dream happen. This doesn’t mean you will not fail. We all fail! In fact, if you are not failing, you are not attempting to do anything that you haven’t already done. Learn from your failures, adapt, and re-engage.
Here are 7 action steps to help you engage and execute:
- See your dream (desired objective) clearly. The more specific your desired outcome, the more likely you are to arrive.
- Believe your dream is possible. (If you missed my previous posts about Self-Awareness, and Thinking Differently, you might want to go back and read those in the archives).
- Determine the action steps required to attain your dream. State the desired outcomes of each step, and establish a timeline for taking action for each step.
- Understand what resources are required to make your actions work. List only the things that you can control.
- Identify what you will need from others, and then decide who the others need to be. Jim Collins, in his classic book, Good to Great, says to get the right people on the bus, AND then get them in the right seat. Remember, if your dream isn’t so big that you need others to help you achieve it, the dream is, in all likelihood, too small to attract your whole-hearted commitment.
- Do your best to understand the obstacles you are likely to encounter, and imagine how you can negotiate them.
- Engage with a firm commitment to see it through (more on this next time).
- Invest some quality time putting these 7 steps into motion. You might want a coach or mentor to help you think this through, but taking action has to be YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
Remember, as you engage and execute your plan, you will find that the road to success is never straight. There will be curves in the road. As my mentor and friend, John C. Maxwell says in his great book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, “A curve in the road is not a problem, unless you fail to take the curve.”
Until next time, make yours a great day!
Danny
P.S. – I would love to hear from you about your experience with this exercise. I screen the comments, before allowing them to post, so please do not include things related to your own business, sales offers, or other inappropriate items.