DreamSetting

"Every great man who ever dreamed drove a Cadillac." --(General Motors Cadillac Division Commercial Circa 2000) I don't know how true that statement is since Cadillacs have only been around for 120 years. But, I understand what is being said...dreams lead to excellence. How true that is! One must dream before he can achieve. If you dream, the thoughts become fertile in your heart and mind. Of course, we are speaking of conscious dreams. Unconscious dreams, although eventful at times, cannot be controlled. But the conscious mind can explore thoughts that could lead to inventions, plans, and goals.

Have you ever longed for something? Maybe it was a material item. Maybe it was an intimate relationship. Maybe it was a specific secular achievement. Whatever it was, you had the thought come into your mind. Maybe a passing thought at first. Then you thought about it more and more. Pretty soon it was in your mind day and night. It became so real to you that you could taste it. Within certain boundaries, this desire could lead to goals which can help you achieve your dreams. The reasoning behind saying "certain boundaries" is because we do not want a dream so fertile in our mind that it leads to wrongdoing. We don't want to become dreaming theives. That is not dreamsetting, nor is it an enriching goal. We want our desires to lead to worthwhile goals.

When those desires lead to dreams and we begin to set goals, we will call it dreamsetting, make sure that the goals are S.M.A.R.T. S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for Specific Measurable Attainable Result-oriented and Time-bound. Let's take a brief look at each one of the words that make up the acronym. In being specific, one must not have the desire as the goal. For instance, your desire might be to gain riches. Riches is not specific enough to be a goal. Our thought process has to be narrowed. Measurable is important in dreamsetting. It aids us to know how close we are getting to our goal. Without measurement, we may get frustrated and give up along the way. Attainability is extremely important. Some say that nothing is out of reach. Well, not to be negative, some things are beyonjd the realms of reality. In saying this, I'm not speaking of one's lot in life, but the goal may be unattainable. For instance, to wish to run a Fortune 500 corporation without any of the credentials desired for even an entry level position within the corporation would be unattainable. Surely, the point is not lost in the example, and one can see how an unattainable goal would lead to frustration as well. Our goals must be Result-oriented. Every step along the way, we should see results that bring us closer to the realization of our goal. This will avoid our goal from being abstract, but having reality throughout. Finally, our goal should be time-bound. It should not linger on forever, but it should have a specific date of realization. Jim Carrey once wrote himself a $1,000,000 post-dated check. His goal was S.M.A.R.T., and he achieved his goal on the specific date. Now, we might want to make that date firm or it may have leniency based on the goal.

Not to change our point, but surround yourself with supporters. Avoid those in life who are "dreamkillers". Some either wish for you not to succeed or they can't imagine you reaching your goal. They are to be put away from you as they will only stand in the way of progress. The sad reality is that oftentimes the "dreamkillers" are close to you. Actually, they will have to be in order to know your goals and to be able to introduce doubt into your mind. Do not allow anyone to prohibit your achievements. Set your goal and march forward, never looking in any direction except forward.

For you goal to be real to you and for you to measure your progress, be sure to have your goals in writing. A goal is just a passing thought if it is not written. In addition, remember that you can have multiple goals working simultaneously. Just be sure to keep them S.M.A.R.T. Now, let's dreamset and yield success!