From Dream to Vision to Action to Reality

“A vision without a task is but a dream.
  A task without a vision is drudgery.
  A vision with a task is the hope of the world.”                                                
                                                      - An inscription on a church in England.

How do you bring your dreams into the reality of your life ?

We began first with ‘why’ have a dream and with the first two of the following steps in the previous article.

  • The first step – ‘dream your dream’ and put it on paper.
  • The second step – ‘visualize your dream’, - paint it in your mind’s eye.
  • The third step – ‘plan your dream’ – write down your goals and strategy.
  • The fourth step – ‘act on your dream’ – takes action in your life.
  • The fifth step – ‘review your actions’ - keep fine-tuning them.

Today let us take the next steps.

‘Plan your dream’ – write down your goals and strategy

You are now ready for the next step, in bringing life to your dreams.
You need to plan your journey. ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’, is an old adage.
This crucial step involves writing down your goals and devising your strategies to achieve them. Obviously these goals come from your dreams and vision.

A goal is a dream with a date. In other words the formula is:
                                                                                                 ‘Dream + Date = Goal’.

No dream is realised overnight. We need to have milestones on our journey to realizing our dreams. Goals are these milestones. They indicate how far have we traveled, what have we achieved and how close we are to achieving those dreams.

Get ready to write down your goals in each of these areas:

  • Physical well-being and Health Goals
  • Mind Development, Personal Goals, Character, Qualities, Habits Goals (Tangible
     and Intangible Self - Improvement Goals)
  • Family Relationships Goals
  • People Relationships and Skills Goals
  • Career and Professional Goals
  • Financial Well-being Goals
  • Annual Income Goal for next 5-10 years,
  • Material Goals
  • Self - Actualisation Goals
  • Spiritual Goals, Contribution Goals,

Now put a date on these goals! By when would you like these to be achieved? Commit yourself!

‘Act on your dream’ – take action in your lif

The penultimate step is to take action.

“Thought without action is but a daydream,
Action without thought is a nightmare”.

The practical way to take action is to make ‘to do’ lists every day. These are small, specific actions and activities you need to do every day to achieve those goals you have committed are important for you to achieve.

Every item you finish from your to do list for the day, tick them off. Those items you aren’t able to do put them into the next appropriate day’s list.

You may or may not finish all the items on each particular day. That’s okay. There will be struggle. You will procrastinate. There will be victories. There will be self-doubt. There will be sadness. There will be happiness. There will be delays. There will be go-slows. There will be downs. There will be ups. There will be all this, may be more. That too is okay. If you are taking action, you will experience these. All this is a part of the transformation process. These indicate that some work is in progress.

William James once said, “Once you make a choice, the universe conspires to make it happen.” You have to take that action however! Start now!

‘Review your actions’ - keep fine-tuning them

90% of the time, during the Apollo missions to the moon, the rockets were not pointing at the moon. They had to constantly monitor and keep fine-tuning, to keep them on course.
So also you may feel, all action and all motion but the pace seems slow.

Keep monitoring and reviewing your actions and the results you are producing. Fine-tune them. Share and discuss with like-minded friends and family. Share only with those who will understand you and support you. Take corrective action when needed. Consult wisely.

Do not give up on your dreams, your vision, and your goals. Do not allow dream stealers around you. “You are never given a desire without also being given the power to make it come true”, wrote Richard Bach, the writer of Jonathon Livingston Seagull.
Keep motivating yourself. Read self help books. Listen to motivational tapes. Attend motivational seminars. Participate in motivational workshops. Do whatever it takes till you achieve your dream.
And then… dream more dreams, and some more and then some more…

Dwell on this powerful thought:

“Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.” – Soreen Kierkegaard.

And this final one:

“There is a giant asleep within everyone.
Miracles happen when the giant awakens.”

                                         Fredrick Faust.

I say to the giant within you - ‘Good morning’.

Wishing you, all the very best in life.
May you achieve your dreams!
May you be happy!

Kartik Vyas, is a management trainer, yoga mentor- consultant and a motivational speaker. He has trained more than 30,000 people from 14 nations over the last 22 years. You can reach him at www.kartikvyas.com