Finding Your Courage In 2010 – One Month On And What’s Stopping You From Reaching Your Dream?

It was supposed to be the year you lost the weight/trained to be a rocket scientist/ditched the husband/married the hot chick from accounts/went global. Or at least made some money. You know, the big stuff.

But somehow it’s fizzled out or been swamped by the old routine or engulfed in the busywork of daily living. And you sigh, and plough on and hope for the best. You still have the big stuff on your to-do list but you’re not quite getting there.

So stop and ask yourself the following questions:

1. All this busywork, is it really needed, or am I using this as a reason to avoid my dream? I know it’s a new year, but you really don’t need to have had all your closets organised with alphanumeric labelling in order to follow your dream. Your fairy godmother will not comment on the state of your storage space.

2. What is my dream? And is that what I really want? Is it your dream or some else’s? Is it your dream, or what you think the rest of the world expects of you? You don’t need their permission to be marvellous. You do need to be inspired to find out what your dream is. It should be more than a to-do list written on fancy-pants notepaper.

3. And why am I not doing it? Well, if you want to live the dream you have to do the stuff that goes with living the dream. It will take a lot of hard work, some inspiration, a bit of luck and the persistence of a very hungry puppy.

And if you are not doing this, it’s either because you don’t know what your dream is (go back to step 2 above) or you do know and it scares the stuffing out of you. So it’s easier to be involved in busywork. Or doing worthy but ultimately unimportant stuff (usually for other people). Or simply saying “I’ll do that when... I win the lottery; the kids are grown; I get a spare minute.”

And reaching the dream means doing all the outward stuff, getting the tools, equipment and connections you need to get the job done. It also needs the inward stuff – developing your vision, knowing what it’s all about, feeling the benefits it will bring and integrating it with who you are and your wonderful place in the universe. And when you have all of this stuff, the practical steps are straightforward to put in place. When you don’t have the inward stuff sorted out, all the practical steps in the world won’t work or they’ll feel false or it simply won’t be you.

So reclaim your dream for this year – and get into action with your future right now.

(c) 2010 Liz Copeland