“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” ~ Patanjali

I don’t know about you, but there is something almost magical about having a big dream! A dream so vivid that you can almost taste it. A dream so big that it draws a smile on your face each time you allow yourself to think of it. When dreams are this GOOD we often keep them close to our heart because they are sooo blissful that sharing them might in some way taint them. You know what I mean?

Last December I was sitting in my newly purchased home in Portland Oregon doing my vision-board exercise (I say “annual” as though I do this each year…I think this was only my 2nd year!). I was looking out the window at the dreary day and although I was grateful for my new house…I KNEW that I couldn’t spend another winter in the dreary Northwest.

The only thing that brought a twinkle to my eye on a day so dreary was my BIG dream of moving to Mexico for the Winter. Unlike most people who save tropical paradise for their 60’s, I wanted it NOW (yesterday to be exact). This dream seemed pretty un-doable. I had just bought a house and even though I had started my consulting practice I wasn’t exactly profiting enough to quit my part-time/stable job.

How to Turn Your Big Dream into a Joyful Reality

I finished my vision board that day and spent the next month getting more clear on a plan to make my dream happen. I’m happy to say that not only will I be spending all Winter in Mexico this year, I also got married this summer and just got back from 2 months traveling all over Asia with my new husband! It’s been a magical year and I want to share 5 tips with you that I found essential in getting from where I was…to where I am.

How to turn your big dreams into reality and live the happy and meaningful life you truly deserve:

1. Dream Big & Dream Vivid

It may sound cliche, but if you can’t dream it, you won’t get it. So before you start putting together some half-assed plan to “make your life better”, allow yourself some “dreamin’ time” to get really clear on what you ACTUALLY want. I did a vision board (as many people do), but most of my dreaming happened in a special journal that I would bring around with me and work on when I could. About once a month I would go up to a great indoor hot spring in Oregon where I could be alone with my thoughts, swim, nap, draw and journal. That’s what worked for me…but you need to figure out what works for you!

When you dream big envision very vividly what you want, where you are, who you are with and how you want to feel. Don’t just write “I want to live in Mexico”. Cut out pictures of Mexico, envision eating food and smelling the ocean with your partner. Have some fun with this!

2. Set a Timeframe

Depending on your dream this could be 1 week or 10 years! I recommend selecting a timeframe that is realistic (so that you don’t set yourself up for disappointment), but also not too far out (so that you don’t lose sight).

I set my goal as 1 year away. I knew I wanted to spend next Winter in Mexico and I knew that I needed to build up my business enough to quit my job and work remotely.

3. Make a Plan

I don’t consider myself an abundance coach, but I have had great success with creating abundance in my life. I think it is because I dream big and then I actually make a plan to make it happen. Depending on your dream this could look like many things.

I created a step by step process where I figured out what I wanted and went backward. So because I wanted to live in Mexico in one year (while working remotely), I had to make growing my business the main objective with well-defined income markers to help me then set goals of how many clients I needed to work with.

You see how that worked? I took a BIG dream and took that main barrier standing in my way (income for while I lived in Mexico) and broke it down into monthly goals so that I could quit my job and be ready to work in Mexico within a year. I also had to get a renter in my house to pay my mortgage while I was away, so I applied the same process to figure out what steps I needed to take to make that happen (pack the house, take pictures, post on the rental site and interview renters, etc).

If you think having a vision board is enough, you will forever be disappointed…make your plan and make it measurable! If you’re not good at this, hire someone to help you! I help people all the time create strategy plans with business and your life is no different!

4. Share your dreams, drop your expectations

Here’s the deal; people don’t always have your back or want you to succeed. The fact that you have a dream can be enough to make people extremely uncomfortable. You could handle this by not telling anyone your dream or you could learn to manage how you take in negative feedback from others.

I used to share my dreams with people and be really disappointed if they didn’t react exactly how I wanted them to react (though I couldn’t quite articulate how I wanted them to react). This created an emotional roller coaster where I would feel excited when I was alone and alone when I shared my dreams to a room full of naysayers. Sometimes negative feedback is enough to completely mess with the dreamers head and throw them off course. This is BAD!

Instead, I want YOU to change your mindset and your expectations…because, at the end of the day, that is all you have control over.  So when you share your dreams and you are met with crickets, odd glances, or rude remarks realize one thing…it’s about THEM, not YOU. Your dreams are so big that they scare them (and that’s pretty cool!).

I can’t even begin to tell you all the stories where I had to apply this principle. If I had let all the naysayers have their way, I would be stuck in dreamy Portland drowning my Mexico dreams in watered down margaritas (no bueno!)

5. Make room for your dream to become a reality

This tip is something that can be applied to everything above. If you want something to enter your life (whether it’s a couch or a new job), you have to make space for it. If your current group of friends is totally unsupportive of your new dreams and your sick of having to manage your expectations, make room for other friends to enter your life who are there to support you.

If you want to launch a business, but you work full-time, you need to figure out a way to make space in your schedule to work on your new biz (whether it means cutting back in hours at work or cutting down on your “free time” activities).

Call it energy or whatever you like, if you make room for something, it will enter your life a lot sooner! Letting go so that you can get more can be scary, but give it a shot with something small to start out! You might be surprised what happens.

I hope you found my tip sheet helpful and inspiring enough to get you dreaming big (and acting fast!) If you have a big dream and you want to share it with a supportive community, then share in the comments section! We can’t wait to cheer you on!

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