Discover your dreams

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. Thoreau

If you could do anything in life – what would it be? If you could work anywhere, for anyone – where would it be and who would it be for? What are you passionate about? Struggling to find a direct answer? You’re not alone. This blog will help you get on the path to achieving your dreams and living a life fulfilled with happiness.

Hobbies
How do you spend your spare time? Everyone spends their spare time doing something – a lot of the time it’ll be multiple consistent things – for example – I like blogging, going to the gym, socialising and reading. List these activities and consider whether it’s something you would enjoy doing for a living.

Talents
Everyone has a gift that they could utilise and share with the world in order to live a life of purpose. Consider what you are good at? What areas do you excel in? Listing your achievements in life may also assist in deciphering your talents.

Colleagues
You won’t enjoy your job if you don’t like who you’re working with. Consider who you enjoy working with and list the types of people you enjoy working with: their characteristics, job titles, even list names of people if you wish.

Tools
What do you enjoy working with? Do you enjoy working with computers? People? Art? Particular software programs? Write a list of all the things you enjoy working with.

Environment
What environment do you enjoy working in? Do you like being in the office? Being outdoors? A classroom? A construction site? What gets you excited?

Triggers
Look back on your life and consider what triggers your happiness? From childhood, through adolescence to adulthood – think about the happiest times in your life and what you were doing, who you were with, where you were doing it.

Passion
List your top five passions – if you don’t have five, as many as you can – compare them to each other and rank them in order from top (greatest passion) to bottom (least passion in the list). Look at the top two or three passions and ask yourself if either could be turned into a job. What professions use those passions? Consider how you would get into that profession and whether you would love working in that field.

Visualise
Take some time to think about what your dream job is, visualise: what you are doing, what you are wearing, where you are, who you’re working with, what tools you’re using, the benefits of this job to yourself and others. Write down all the finer details as much as you can. The more real it becomes in your mind, the more it will become a reality – what you conceive, you can achieve.

Planning
Now you have your destination – you just need to plan how to get there. Think backwards – you have your destination, what’s the last step you have to take to get to there? And the step before that? And the one before that? Keep going until you’re at the first step. Sometimes there is more than one way to get to a destination, so it’s ok to brainstorm a few possibilities/branches to get where you’re going. Brainstorm what actions you need to take to get to where you want to go.

Make it happen
Start at the start of your roadmap and take the first step. Pretend you can’t fail – remove all fear of risk and loss and believe in your success.  Live as you want to be remembered. Set an example with what you’re doing and be the best you can be at it every day. Sooner or later, you will get rnoticed for what you are doing – but make sure you act boldly and on purpose.

Research
Learn as much as you can about your dream in any way you can. Read books in the library, look it up on the internet, interview some experts in the field. Become an expert on the topic. Find the people who inspire you in the field and try to meet them. Ask what steps they took to get there, what’s required, how they did it.

Practice
While you’re developing your dream, practice your passion as much as possible. Commit to spending some time on it every day (30 minutes to an hour) or as often as you possibly can, for as long as you can. Make it a habit and you will succeed.

Motivation
Keep yourself motivated and focussed. You know what you’re going for, now don’t give up! Set rewards for yourself at every mini goal you reach – in the step to getting to the end. Only focus on one goal at a time. Inspire yourself, track your progress, join a support group or find a partner on a similar mission.