April must be my time of reflection. Every year about this time I feel like a brand new plant looking for the sun, as if it were a brand new life. There have been many times that metaphor has applied to me, my personal life, my career, my relationships with others, and on and on.
This year, I have been feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and the feeling that I am just plain lucky. Do you ever have that feeling?
I shared some of those feelings with a friend, someone who has known me since I was a daycare provider, back before I had a college degree, back when my marriage was failing. At times, there were bad days. My soul would cry up to the sky: "What did I do to deserve this? I've always been a good person!" I shared those thoughts with my wise friend and here is what she said. Those words changed my life.
"Stop worrying about who you are now, and focus on who you want to be. Act like you've already arrived. Hang out with people who know about your dream, and only those who want to be a part of making it happen. Leave people who can't accept the 'new vision of you' behind."That day, I started to act like my dream had already been delivered. I hung out with positive, supportive people. I re-doubled my efforts to graduate from college faster, determined to graduate with honors. I told myself that someday, I would find a man who loved me for who I was, even with all my flaws. I vowed to stop smoking. I told myself I could do all these things. And guess what? It started happening. This was in 1995.
The first goal was to quit smoking. As my dear friend Sam Dowling would say (she's from London), "I didn't fancy myself a smoker." It took me a year to psych myself up. But I finally took the plunge on my 28th birthday.
Graduation was next. Instead of taking one class a semester (all I could afford), I took out student loans and invested more into my education. It took me six more years, but I finally graduated in May of 2001. Bought a house the same month. Two more goals checked off my list.
The search for a good man would take longer. I finally found him in 2005 and convinced him to marry me in 2009. About the same time we married, my career would hit a bump in the road. But it's been one of those realizations that I should have been doing something else, and just didn't realize it until I was out on my own. Being in business for myself has allowed me to sharpen my goals and focus like a laser on doing the things I really like and I'm good at.
But here's the thing. I didn't just wake up one day and just say, "I want to start my own business." I was more focused than that. About three years ago, I took my inspiration from Mitch Matthews and actually wrote it down at a Big Dream event. I believe it went something like this, "I want to make money being a social media consultant." That's a pretty specific goal, but it still left some wiggle room. I could either work for someone else or myself. So since then, I've done both.
Mitch has another event coming up. Check out his site, especially the video that talks about the Big Dream movement. It will inspire you to start naming your dreams. Because only dreams with names can be born into reality.
What's your dream? What are you doing to make it happen? Mitch's next event in Des Moines is coming up May 16th. Will you and your dream be there?
