Choose one small thing to start with that will move you toward your dream and do it to the best of your ability (tweet this).
I issued that challenge in a post How to Make Your Blogging Dreams Come True just over a month ago. Since publishing that post, I’ve had literally hundreds of readers email me to let me know that they’ve been using the mantra to move them toward their blogging (and non blogging) dreams.
As a result, I thought I’d circle back to it today to check in with how people are going as well as suggesting another strategy for helping you to move toward your dreams.
Last week, I spoke at the World Domination Summit about ‘getting dreams out of your head’. I finished my talk by suggesting those in the audience take a moment to tell the person next to them a dream they wanted to chase.
What I’ve discovered, over the years, is that when I share my dreams the chances of them happening increases. I think this is for three reasons:
Sharing Dreams Creates Accountability
Firstly, it creates a little accountability. When I share a dream I have (whether it be a big dream or a small one) I find it opens a conversation that becomes ongoing. The other person then has permission to followup and ask how the dream chasing is going and even if they don’t ask, I know they know… so I am motivated to pursue it!
Sharing Dreams Helps You Recruit Dream Collaborators
Secondly, I find that by sharing a dream with another person you often find collaborators who can help you make it happen. Just last week I told a friend a dream of mine and two days later I received an email telling me that they’d been thinking about what I’d told them and that they:
- knew someone that I should talk to that had experience in that area
- had just read an article that I should read that touched on my dream
- wanted to offer to help with one aspect of making the dream a reality
Sharing your dream might just unearth the keys to make that dream happen.
Sharing Dreams Makes Them More Robust
Lastly, I find that verbalising a dream helps the dream to find shape. My dreams usually start off just living in my mind. But once I share it, verbally, I begin to hear the strengths and weaknesses of what I’m saying. By putting words to your dream, you begin to test it and shape it. When others ask you questions about it you’re forced to look at it in a more realistic way – something that helps to make it a more robust idea!
Who to Share Your Dream With?
So at WDS last week I asked people in the audience to share a dream with the person next to them. This took a few people out of their comfort zone but in the days that have followed, I’ve had emails from a number of people who took the challenge who have already seen their dreams becoming a reality. And it all started when they shared a sentence or two about their dreams.
Sharing your dreams with random people is certainly something that can have a big impact but you might want to be a little more selective than that, particularly if your dream is more personal or in its very early stages.
Sometimes you want to be a little careful about who you want to share a dream with because some people will bring their critical thought processes to the dream before it is ready to be critiqued. There’s certainly nothing wrong with having a dream ‘tested’ by such people but I tend to do this once a dream has been developed and becomes a little emote robust!
I have a small group of friends and team members who I know are great for listening to my dreams and ambitions. They are people who care for me, who I trust and who I know will encourage and give energy towards making dreams come true. They are also people who can tell me if an idea isn’t so great when required – without crushing my spirt :-)
Challenge: Share a Dream
So here’s my challenge to you. Share a dream!
Do you have a dream that you’ve been struggling to get out of your head? It may or may not relate to blogging – either way, I encourage you to share it with someone.
You may choose to do this by sharing it with a trusted friend as suggested above.
Or if your dream isn’t so personal or you’re ready to put it out there more publicly you might choose to do it in comments below or you might even write a blog post about that dream.
But don’t keep it to yourself!
I totally agree! I’ve been trying to do this lately, it’s hard to do but worth it. Thank you for this post!
I think you hit the nail on the coffin with the accountability. I share my dreams with my wife. If I share my dreams with her and I start slacking then it feels like I’m not only letting myself down, but I’m also letting her down as well. There’s so much power in having somenoe hold you accountable.
Amen Darren! I’m also big on sharing my dream and ideas. You’re absolutely right, even just verbalizing them brings a sense of accountability. Wether or not they’re realized is a different process. Also, I’ve noticed that I’ve encountered more resistance when I share *how* I want to carry out my dream that the dream itself.
My experience of knowing who to share with, as has been the case with most areas, has been one of trial and error. It seems to me that we cannot know in advance with whom we’ll share an affinity and this is also part of the adventure. I’m often surprised at who offers support. Often they are individuals who, under any other circumstances, I would not speak to or contact. The process of sharing helps me be less judgmental about others. Nice post Darren.
I think sharing your dream with right person is very important,because if you share your dream with such a person who dont like you ,will citicised your dream and this will make you upset if you are not able to defend.Here in this iwould like to add that one should share his dream with a girl because they are less criticising than men and they are more understanding.
You have given me a great idea. I am gonna write a clean blog post on this.
Thanks
Hey Darren! I often read your blog for blogging tips, and this is my first time ever to post a comment. I really feel motivated to do it because the subject you brought touches my niche :’inspirational blogging’.
I once shared a dream of dating a specific woman i used to see everyday, to a colleague and friend. I never had the guts to talk to her and kept on expressing my wishful thinking to my friend…Three weeks later, the same friend called to tell me that he had arranged to get her number and had spoken to her on my behalf…As I type this comment, I am currently engaged to that woman and we are planning on getting married…
Sharing dreams with others can open doors for help where the tasks could be too big to achieve alone.
Great post Darren ,at last something different than bloggology (just kidding).
By the way, with the online authority that you have, you should try to start an inspirational blog, you will definitely change a lot of lives beyond blogging.
Fellow blogger from Africa.
Great opener Darren. Tweeted it :)
Great Idea. Motivated to bloggers. One day dreams comes true.
Thanks
Great post Darren! All dreams started out with one person and end up benefiting many people or in some cases that particular dreamer. Like you said is always a good it to share your dreams with someone.
My dream? Actually I want to see myself as a Viral and a problogger, if only I could wake up and everything changed to the way I want it, not just blogging but other personal issues too.
You are so inspiring Darren
it doesn’t work for me
i always started with dreaming big and ending on something else
by the way loved your article
keep posting up
Sharing your dream with the right person – or group of people – makes your dream so much more reachable, because these folks will support you until your dream comes true.
Once you share your dream it becomes a known commodity; no more making excuses, or stammering, or waiting to chase your dreams. Nope. Now the pressure is on and you must act, day after day, from an inspired place, and then, when you do not feel like it, to reach your goals….and if your dream partners remind you to get on track after you have fallen off course, even better!
Thanks Darren!
I do share my thoughts to my wife and have tried the idea of sharing your dreams to someone and that someone was still my wife. I have not shared the dreams I have with others for I might fall short from my expectations or I might get negative comments and eventually hamper the dream that I want to achieve. I know my wife will always be on my side no matter what happens to the dream. She will always encourage me to keep pushing and pretty soon I will be victorious.
Like goals, saying them out load definitely makes it more real. I think my dreams are always changing and evolving, with new journeys and experiences along the way. But it is the one thing I tell all my clients and teens at workshops: dream and hold onto that dream. Because if you don’t, no one else will!
I share my blogging dreams with people who are smarter than me. I sometimes mention them to others and the they end up being more critical than supportive or they take my dreams and make them bigger.
Recently, I was talking to a buddy about one of my sites. He said, “Make an app.” I had thought about it, but that app has to serve a purpose. So, he started explaining the mechanics of it and it made sense. Although that app is a couple years away, that conversation was a blessing and added to my dream.
My dream is to buy a Rolls Royce from the income of my business and drive it on my city streets!
Wow, Your online business?
I didn’t achieve my goals yet but I’m satisfied of what I’m doing now, It’s because writing is my passion. But my dream is to become a successful marketer and your post inspired me a lot.
Hi Darren,
Really encouraging post! I think the most important part of making a dream come true is by taking action right away. As you say, start from the simplest thing would do. As part-time blogger, my simple dream is to finish a year post within a couple of months, so I can save a lot of time to do something else important (still in blogging matters such as promoting, social media, and so on). Then comes the big dream. To earn (huge and stable) passively from it.
Blogging is a something I like when I have spare time. After making couple of thousands in a couple of months I am getting interesting to dig deeper on how to earn (huge and) stable revenue from all the experience I’ve gained (and learn a lot from other experience’s too). So that’s my big dream now, and that’s what make me keep enjoying blogging so far. Dream give us passion, and passion give us willingness to do something.
i like to share my dreams because they make me motivated every time i think of them….Thanks for the great post
I have been striving really hard on blogging and did several projects lately but never succeeded. Have started a new one this time and am trying my luck this time.
I love and am really happy about blogging.
Love this post. If we really want our dreams to come true, we must be open with them. When we tell people our ambitions, they become real. They aren’t just in our mind anymore. When we share, we create a mental contract with ourselves. Now that other people know about our ambitions, it becomes a social necessity that we fulfill them. In short, it gives us a powerful incentive to reach our dreams.
If you want to fulfill your dreams, let them free.
Very interesting article ..
Thank you for your article. I must share to my blog.
Every blogger has the same dream, which is to success in blogging with thousand traffic daily and hope on getting money from showing ads. Don’t give up, make improvement continuously..sooner or later..the successful is yours! Thanks for this sharing!
Great post. Bring accountability in works very well in forcing you to continue to work towards your goals/dreams when the going gets tough.
I would refine it a little more. Instead of saying, my dream is whatever, tell the person, I am going to do whatever your goal is. This little bit more of commitment changes the whole proposition.
Great article, it definitely made me think about my blogging dreams.
Great post and great idea. Dreams motivate and inspire me a lot.
While reading this post, I somehow drifted away. It probably has something to do with going after or chasing your dreams even if it’s not totally related to blogging. The entire post is great but what I really like most is the part about accountability. This is very very true. I have personally experienced this. I remember one time, I shared a dream with a good friend. Not only did it feel good as I was able to share my thoughts with someone, it also made me feel accountable–in a sense that I felt like I really needed to do something about it because I’ve already spoken about it. I hope other people can experience this feeling personally too but cheers to you for pointing us “dreamers” in the right direction!