We are just about into the final quarter of 2023. How has the year been going for you so far? With my clients this week, I was asking them to record all they are grateful for so far this year and all they are proud of creating. What about you?
Lots of people, when we get to this time of the year, if they haven’t made progress on their dreams and goals for the year, they are inclined to throw in the towel and decide to wait till the New Year!
Don’t let that be you!
Here are four things to look out for if your dream is stalling or even eluding you:
1. What would you love?
Most people don’t know the answer to that question but it is essential to have goals and intentions, a dream or vision that you love. Why would you put much effort into anything less than what you love? If you find you are unmotivated or that things aren’t happening for you tune in again. Is what I’ve said are my goals and dreams really what I want? And if not, what would I love instead?
Once you are aligned with goals and intentions that are your real passion, you will have more motivation and will be willing to make more effort in pursuing them.
You can also build your desire for those end results by asking yourself what is it costing me not to pursue my dream? Complacency, low energy, low mood, lack of confidence, deferred income? And what will it cost you to get to 31 December this year and feel like you have lost or wasted another year, wishing for a different outcome but not having achieved it? You can use the awareness of that cost and disappointment as a push to get you going again.
So do the work! Get clear on what you’d love and maintain your focus on that. When your goals are aligned with your deepest desires, when you are lit up at the thought of them, synchronicity kicks in to guide you to your target.
2. Is your dream yours or are you living someone else dream for you?
Are your goals and dreams your own choice or have you taken on board what others think you should strive for? Those could be the views of your parents (even if they are now deceased) or your partner or even the kinds of expectations in society of what success looks like. Are you sacrificing your own dreams on the altar of other people’s opinions and expectations?
Are you playing it safe and opting for the status quo rather than going after what you’d really love?
When I first start to talk with my clients, they are often concerned about the risks of pursuing their dreams and the potential costs of making changes. Maybe that’s where you’re at? Remember that there are risks either way! Yes there may be some risks to changing career, leaving a relationship, moving home and starting over. And guess what, you’ll deal with them!
And there are risks to not doing any of those things. The biggest regret of the dying is all the things they didn’t do. Don’t let your dream die with you, lean into it today.
3. Are you settling for less than?
Are you resigned to accepting less than your optimal levels of health and weatlh, love, success and freedom during this lifetime? Are you compromising on what you would love to be, do, have, give and create?
You may well have grown up in a family and culture that said you should settle for what you have, to be grateful for the good that’s in your life and not ask for more? Sound familiar?
Let me be the one to remind you today that the urge in you to grow and become more is life giving and Spirit given. I fundamentally believe that you are I are not sent into this lifetime to settle and tolerate. We are given this opportunity to grow and become the best we can be. So where are you settling and tolerating? Where are you choosing comfort over growth?
Are you willing to move out of your comfort zone in order to experience the results you’d love?
4. What steps can you take today toward your dream?
One of the empowering activations I return to with my clients to create forward momentum and success is: Do what you can from where you are with what you’ve got.
There is always something you can do! Most people think, I’ll do it when I have the money, or when the economy is more favorable, or when I have the time. I know this! I spent years waiting for the economy to tell me when would be a good time to start my own business!
The thing is that your dream is never going to feel convenient or that all the stars are aligned for it to come to fruition easily. The Truth is that it always feels impossible until it’s done!
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
I had a client this week who has gone part time at work. She’d wanted that outcome for ages and kept putting off asking for it because she wasn’t sure it would be granted. Now that she has it, she’s wondering why she worried about it and delayed asking for so long!
So what is the step you know you could take that you’ve been talking yourself out of? Go do that! For your dreams to come to fruition you have to be in action!
As you probably know, this year I had the dream of swimming 2km. At the start of the year and even at the start of this summer, that dream was more of a nice idea. I had to move into action for it to be realized… I did some research, I started doing more sea and open water swimming, I found a coach and invested in a wetsuit, I committed to swimming 3-4 times a week…Within 5 weeks I managed to go from swimming 500m at a stretch to swimming 2km with relative ease.
Don’t defer your dream! Set up supports and systems around you to instantly translate your intentions into action. You are more resourced than you think and all you ever need to do is to take the step that’s yours to take.
And celebrate that you’re taking those steps. Keep an eye on the end result but focus on the progress you are making, track the little wins and soon you’ll be celebrating the big wins realize.
Photo by Andreas Wagner on Unsplash
Would you love to have some support to further clarify your dreams and learn the inside scoop on how to achieve them?
I have a two-day transformational workshop coming up on 14 & 15 October and I would love to teach you how to design your vision for the life you’d love and how to develop the mindset and strategy to achieve it. There is an invisible side to success and it can be learned. Let me teach you a proven, reliable, repeatable system for creating results you love every time.
Join me in Cork for the Vision Workshop and let’s get you going. Details and bookings here.