Enjoy the journey even when you think you’re not moving forward with the important stuff.
Life has a way of changing priorities and making some priorities challenging to put first. I could share many situations in my life when I wasn’t moving forward on what really mattered. I have long been an advocate of setting goals and dreaming big. I am totally energized by the goal-setting activity, but have often been discouraged by the goal-achieving process. There are some things that I realized weren’t really what I wanted, but there have been more goals and dreams that I’ve held onto for years even though I was taking very little action in that area.
You may think that some of those big dreams you have are impossible to achieve, or just too difficult to move forward with. I believe we have been instilled with certain ambitions because that’s what our purpose is in life. If there’s nothing else you get from reading this, at least get it deep in your heart that a meaningful life is to live with purpose. From the people I’ve communicated with personally and professionally and the many others that I’ve heard from and about, I can confidently say that stress, depression, addictions and a myriad of other emotional setbacks come from not living the life you’re meant to.
If you haven’t got your dreams written down as goals then check out these articles for some guidance on creating your lifelong Dreaming and Planning Book. You’re not likely to move forward on any of your dreams, especially those big ones, if you don’t have them written down.
This is essential.
If only planning out those dreams and desires was all that was needed, I’d be rockin’ this life with purpose-filled achievements left, right and centre! But it takes consistent action and attention. It takes reviewing your dreams and goals a few times a week at minimum and it’s best if you make the review of your goals a part of your daily routine. Here are some action steps to keep on track:
- Plan out little tasks for each of your goals – you may not take action on every goal, but keep a separate weekly or monthly Action-Tracking List of what you’re going to do to move forward on those big goals
- Keep your thoughts focused on achieving your goals and imagining your life as if you’ve already achieved them
This is the dream big journey that will be most important in your life. Achieving is inevitable if you keep focused and take consistent action. Eventually you’ll make it to the fabulous part of achieving. However, I’ve realized over my two decades of dreaming and achieving that after I reach one of my dreams, I’m grateful, thankful to God and have a deep feel-good satisfaction, but then I continue to dream and plan for bigger and better things. Those bigger things that are in line with the vision for my life.
The biggest growth and overall satisfaction in my life has definitely come from moving forward on my dreams. Completing those little steps and achieving the small goals have provided me with so much change in perspective and realizations about myself and others. That includes moving forward with those dreams that I later realized weren’t really for me.
You see, when you’re moving forward with the vision for your life – even on the stuff that turns out not to be your thing – you’re creating a meaningful life. We don’t always know what’s our true thing, but we have to move forward in different areas of our life to discover what it is.
Move forward and enjoy the journey. Yes, you’ll get frustrated when your plans don’t seem to be working out, but learn to let that go quickly and maybe that frustration will actually be the trigger to help you realize an alternative plan or have a light-bulb moment of ‘Hey, getting angry or depressed definitely isn’t going to be effective either!’ That’s mind growth at its finest.
Dream big, have goals and see the journey to the dream as the most enjoyable part. You have been created to dream, with a purpose that is magnificently unique to you. Negative emotions will arise and it’s part of every human’s purpose to shake of the negative thoughts and keep moving forward.
Want some animated encouragement? Watch Disney’s Meet the Robinsons.
Watch it with some kids in your life to instill the growth mindset that will keep them strong through every adversity.
