How big do you dream?

You’ve had that nudge, that thought, of something you would love to do … and then you talked yourself out of it.  

You let the thought go because you didn’t take it seriously, or didn’t think it was really possible.

Some day, when it is the right time, you’ll get to it.

I think we have all said it at some point.

Did you know that we tend to dream safe?  

I often say that we dream “small”.

We dream in a way that we can imagine accomplishing.  That is not really dreaming, it is more like imagining.  

When we dream, we go beyond.

Beyond what we naturally show up for in our everyday.

Beyond the “to do” list.

Beyond the reactions and responses to the distractions and urgency of the day to day.

We so often dream in such a way that “we think we can”. 

Truth is, we can accomplish so much more than our thoughts would tell us.

But why should we dream big?  

Here are 5 reasons dreaming big is so important and powerful.

1.  It gives you fresh eyes and helps you take bigger steps.   We naturally think through the lens of our perspective and mindset.  Our perspective is how we see things in our world around us, and our mindset is what we believe about what we see around us.  They both are carried forward from the patterns and experiences of our past.  They are not reality, and they can be changed.  When we dream big, we look outside of where we are today, and begin to have eyes for what can be, and start taking steps we wouldn’t naturally take.  We see more of what can be,  and begin to have a vision for a bigger purpose and picture of what we want to accomplish or be.
2. It changes the beliefs that hold you back.  Dreaming big begins to show you what is possible.  Maybe not right up front, but as  you take the steps forward you begin to see that yes, you can.  Left to our limiting beliefs and negative stories we tell ourselves, we hold ourselves back.  When we dream big we can see beyond that and it shifts those beliefs one step at a time.  When I set a huge goal of running a marathon I didn’t go out and run it right away.  I spent a year training.  I took one run at a time and step by step, run by run, week by week, I built up to running a full marathon.  When I crossed the finish line I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I did it”, and the tears came.  You see, when I set the goal I didn’t truly think I could but I worked towards it and kept that big dream to do it.  And step by step my belief in myself changed.  
3. It stretches you and helps you see that yes, you can.  In our mastermind we take some take and dream.  I will ask the participants to dream, but then I have to prompt them to dream bigger, because the first time they answer it is the safe answer.  But when prompted they begin to think bigger.  To stretch their imagination and go beyond their first dream.  Like the ducks that played in the puddles because they couldn’t see the lake just over the hill, without the dreaming we will stay in the puddle, or for me in the short, easy runs.  Each longer run I took reinforced to me that I could.  I could run a little further next time.  Each longer run was a stretch but put them all together and it became running 42 kms in one go!  Still can’t believe it, but I know I can.
4. It gives you clarity.  Clarity is the foundation of knowing where you want to move forward to.  It gives you the vision, the picture, of the end goal.  It helps you break down the big dream into smaller bite size steps.  It helps you see the end but also see the now.  Without clarity, we are taking chances that what you do next will get you somewhere you want to go, but you’re not really sure.  Clarity is the #1 thing I hear women are looking for.  What is next?  How will I get there?  Where should I be going?  Will it make a difference?  When we dream big we start to connect our heart with our values and get a picture of what steps lead to that.  I like to say that it all begins with clarity, but the clarity actually comes out of the dreaming big.
5. You build your confidence.  Self-confidence is something we all desire more of, yet many push back on.  Our confidence is not our selfish desires, it is our assurance that we can get through the journey and path to reach the destination we are looking for.  When I first set a goal of running the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon, it was because of a inappropriate comment from a stranger in a store.  I shared my dream with a friend and she told me I could do a 10km run with her a few months later … I thought she was crazy, but we dreamed big and started moving towards it.  Guess what?  We not only finished 10km that month, but we finished a half marathon together (21 kms)!  And within the year we ran the Ottawa marathon together.  I didn’t need to know I could finish the marathon right up front, I just needed to know I could do the next run.  The dreaming big gave me the clarity of the big picture and that gave me the confidence to take the baby steps (or baby runs.)  

I did finish the San Diego marathon a few years later and would have missed knowing that I could if I hadn’t of dreamt big.  I knew I could push through more, stretch myself more, and accomplish more than if I had of stayed in the feeling of being safe in what I attempted.  We just don’t naturally dream as big as we can accomplish at the beginning.  We need to keep dreaming bigger and bigger, because each time we push ourselves closer to our potential that we already have.  

Where do you want to go?

What do you want to accomplish?

Who do you want to be?

Think of your dreams in answering those questions … then dream bigger.

Write them down and start to build the vision.

You were made for more than your first thoughts.

Dream, and then dream bigger!