How To Commit To Making Your Dreams Come True

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. ~ Harriet Tubman (Tweet this)

Is making your dreams come true a tough job? Well, lack of commitment to a big dream is something I see very often as a coach. People say they want to start a business. They say they have a big dream. They say they want it more than anything. But when the time comes to put some skin in the game, they won’t commit to their business or their dreams. Quite simply, they won’t commit to making their dreams come true.

This leads to stalled action and pain as they realize they aren’t moving forward. Suddenly five years go by and they are in exactly the same place, complaining about the same things and wishing they had started sooner.

Most of this pain and suffering can be attributed to fear.

• Fear of failure.
• Fear of investing.
• Fear of owning what they want.
• Fear of losing money.
• Fear of what people will think of them.
• Fear of not knowing what they are doing.
• Fear, fear and more fear.

Yet there are individuals who overcome these fears and make their dreams come true anyway.

Contrary to popular belief, those who make their dreams come true don’t have an absence of fear, instead they move through their fear. They also don’t get lucky breaks. They work hard while moving in the direction of their dreams.

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. ~ Colin Powell (Tweet this)

Here’s how you make your dreams come true…

So what is the difference between individuals whose dreams come true and those whose don’t? A fierce commitment that withstands fears and challenges along the way. Here’s how to commit to your dream even if you don’t know how to make it happen.

1. Make a damn decision

Indecision leads to procrastination, fear, and a lack of action. In fact, it’s almost miraculous how quickly people gain clarity about their dreams as soon as they make the decision to go for it. I see it all the time and I’ve also experienced it myself. We let other people’s views about our dreams get in the way of making a decision for ourselves. We start thinking in perceived terms of “practicality,” “security” and “comfort.”

What is the most practical choice? What seems realistic? What’s secure? Of course, the crazy part is we tend to define these terms not according to what we believe, but what we’ve been told to believe.

Sometimes the stories we make up in our heads as to why we can’t progress on a dream are completely absurd. In the spirit of full disclosure (and because you can just go find this in my book), one of the things that kept me from fully committing to my vision was that I was afraid to make a lot of money because “men would be intimidated by me.” How insane is that?

Once I realized I’d just picked this up from society I was able to disassociate and make a decision. I decided to make my dreams come true no matter what. Consequently, shortly after I did this, my next steps not only became clear, but I also dated a guy who totally dug what I did for a living and respected me for it.

While the relationship may not have worked out, it did serve as proof of what I already knew: that the story I’d picked up from society about men being intimidated by successful women was false.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. ~ Anatole France (Tweet this)

Take a look at your current situation and ask yourself,

1. What’s holding me back from making a decision?
2. What am I afraid of?
3. Who is stopping me?

Write it out so it goes out of your head and onto some paper you so you can actually see what you are working with.

2. Define the worst-case scenario

Most people tend to overestimate what failure looks like. This is why I encourage clients to clearly define what a worst-case scenario would look like if they were to “FAIL.”

For most people a worst-case scenario isn’t that bad and it certainly isn’t a case of life or death. In the case of my clients, if their businesses don’t work out, then they just need to find a job. That’s really not a big deal and is far less dramatic than what their ego would have them believe. Once they realize this is the case then they are more inclined to commit to making their dreams come true and they start to follow through. After all, they just realized they don’t have as much to lose as they once thought.

3. Accept that failure is a part of success

There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. ~ Oprah Winfrey (Tweet this)

Things don’t always work out, we don’t know the answers to everything and everyone fails at something. The truth is that the only real failure is not trying at all. Why? Because “failure” is just a part of the game we call life.

• Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots in his career and lost over 300 games.
• Apple nearly disappeared in the 90s. In fact, you could have bought Apple stock for $1.00 back then.
• Richard Branson has some pretty epic company failures in his repertoire.

And yet, this hasn’t stopped anyone from becoming successful. In fact, these are some of the foremost examples of success that always come to mind. That’s because these people understand that failure is a part of the process. As the saying goes, “If you fear failure, you will never go anywhere.”

4. Have faith in the outcome and yourself

The last step is perhaps the most difficult, because it requires something we’re not used to tapping into: faith. If you have faith in the outcome, and hold on to that faith tightly, you will feel that no matter what challenges arise, that making your dreams come true is on it’s way.

Of course, faith is a muscle you have to work out. Many spiritual teachers and leaders suggest meditation as a tool to help us keep the faith and keep moving forward.

Another form of faith we’re not accustomed to is having faith in ourselves. We’re more apt to put ourselves down than we are to give ourselves credit. Start changing this with what Kate Northrup calls a self-value exercise.

Each night before bed list three ways that you provided value into the world. I modify this a bit for my clients and encourage them to list three things they are grateful for about themselves if they find that more appropriate.

We have to train our minds to believe that we can have faith in the outcome and faith in ourselves as we commit to making our dreams. By doing this exercise you will soon start to feel much better about yourself and your ability to make your dreams come true.

Final thoughts

By using the steps laid out in this article you’ll find yourself being more easily able to finally commit to making your dreams come true, even if you’re not sure how to make it happen. While this is a practice, the results over time are miraculous.

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come true, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. ~ Jesse Owens (Tweet this)