LifeDev

Photo by Grant Neufeld

We all have ambitions of working that dream job or buying that shmancy X, yet we often find ourselves nowhere near that goal. Life, it seems, has a funny way of quickly putting the kibosh on our dreams.

When people fantasize about doing their dream job, the fantasy isn’t that they couldn’t be in that occupation, but that it would happen overnight. Like winning the lottery. But everyone knows the chances of winning the lottery are like 1 in Never, so that’s why it’s called a “dream”. More of a fantasy than anything else. But what if the dream could be a reality with a little bit of spit and stick-to-it-ivness?

Chasing your dreams

Ever wonder why it’s called “chasing your dreams”, and not “waking-up-smack-dab-in-the-middle-of your dreams”? It’s because your dream job probably won’t land in your lap. Odds are you’ll have to work for it.

But the work towards your dreams doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, the best way to achieve your dreams is to work a little bit at them (yes, each one) every day. This, in a nutshell, is what I call Dreamwork.

Life is a Garden… Dig it

Think of Dreamwork as a form of gardening. You don’t just walk out one day and have a healthy, lush garden sitting in your backyard. You have to plant the seeds, water, and tend it at consistent intervals. The best gardens are tended to every day.

Getting started with Dreamworking is as simple as creating a list for each of your dreams and goals, and taking baby steps each day to achieving them. Once you’ve got your lists, immediately start populating the list with action steps that can be done right away. They could be as small as “check out book on woodworking” if your goal is to carve a kayak.

Now, for the easy part. Do at least one task each day on each dream list. (If you’ve got a butt-load of dreams, than maybe not all of them. Just be consistent on the amount of time you spend on each list.)

You’ll need to keep populating these lists with todos on a regular basis (I try to do it weekly), and pretty soon you’ll start to see major breakthroughs, and (Warning! Cliche alert!) eventually your dream will become a reality.

The whole process may take longer than you’d like. But if it’s your dreams we’re talking about, the wait will be worth it.

Using dreamwork to become a freelancer

I’ve been using the concept of Dreamworking for the past year in hopes of launching my own business, allowing me to develop my own ideas and projects full time. I’m not gonna lie to you smart people… it was a bit daunting at first. But I started small and daily worked a little bit on each project. Fast-forward a year later to last week when I signed the papers that officially formed my company Midnight Pineapple LLC. The only way it could have worked was with a little effort each day.

And lastly… this is nothing new

Remember the tortoise and the hare? Or that corny saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Yep, those same principles apply here. In fact, this post is based on some of the oldest rules in the book. Sorry to disappoint ;)

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