How To Create A Life To Follow Your Dreams

I talk with business owners every day who struggle with managing their time.

My goal as their business coach is to help them realize that thinking differently about time management can be more important than any new tools they could buy for time management.

And as they justify their overbooked schedules I simply offer this:

Entrepreneur Michael Gerber often says  “Time is just another word for life.”

So over the next few days, when you say things like “I don’t have enough time to meet with you” or “Don’t waste your time doing that” – insert the word life in the place of time, and see if it changes the way you feel about what you are saying.

“I don’t have enough life to meet with you”.

“Don’t waste your life doing that”.

The client usually stops talking.  The pain in their silence is obvious and heavy.

With all that is going on in our lives, it may seem impossible to squeeze something else in – you will argue “I don’t have enough time left to dream!”

Or, you don’t have enough life left to dream…

Some of us have forgotten how to dream, as our work and family obligations trump any amount of unscheduled time we have.  Unfortunately dreaming has slowly become one of those ” use it or lose it” practices.

And if you are one of those people who has ‘lost’ your dreaming skills, you have to believe that time spent following your dreams is valuable before your “self” will allow it to happen.

It’s all in how you think about it.

Adding dream time to an already jam packed schedule may seem impossible – so do what you can to set yourself up for success.

Here’s how to create time (life) to follow your dreams -

1. Start with giving yourself permission to spend time dreaming.
   Nothing kills dreaming faster than  guilt.  You may stare at blank paper for a while – but keep the faith!  Your dreams are in there, just waiting to come out.
2. Actually schedule the time to dream.
   Waiting for a few hours to just open up for dreaming will NEVER happen.  Be realistic.  Start small if you have to.  It may be hard at first, but do it any way.
3. Be specific about what you want to do during your dream time.
   Cross it out on your appointment calendar and add a note like  I will go to the zoo to take photos from noon to 3pm and then come back and edit them till dinner time. Have a plan, and be determined to stick to it.

With any new habit that you want to develop, research says you’ll need to dream this way routinely for about a month before it becomes your new way of dreaming.

During that month, know that you’re gonna drop the ball, make mistakes, forget to dream – and that is ok.

Don’t beat yourself up.

If you need some help getting started, here is a link with some great tips and techniques for managing and organizing your time.

But remember – it all starts with how you think about dreaming.

Then it’s up to you to determine how you will make it happen.  I am confident you will.

You are defining your life to dream.

Until next photo,

Remy

Remy’s dream is creating opportunities for photography showings and public displays of her work and to ultimately be recognized nationally as a respected photographer . . . then the world. Remy is CEO of Cornerstone Creative, a business consulting practice in Northern California. Remy’s post day is Wednesday. +Remy Gervais

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