Your Big Dream Isn’t Too Big. It Just Needs a Plan.

There’s something exciting about having a big dream. There is also something a little terrifying about it. 

It’s easy to say, “Someday I’d love to…” when the idea is safely tucked away in the back of your mind. It's much harder to finish that sentence and seriously consider what it would take to make it happen.

Maybe you want to start a business, write a book, buy a vacation home, travel somewhere you have always wanted to see, change careers, make more money, or create something entirely your own.  Whatever it's, big dreams tend to feel wonderful when we are imagining them. Then, almost immediately, the practical side of our brain steps in. 

How would I do that? Where would I find the money? What if it doesn’t work? Am I too old to start something like this? And before we know it, we have come up with a dozen reasons why the idea probably isn’t realistic.

But maybe the problem isn’t that the dream is too big. Maybe we simply haven’t figured out the path to get there yet.

Start With What You Really Want

Before you start thinking about everything that could get in the way, give yourself permission to think about what you actually want. We are very good at being practical. Sometimes we are so practical that we talk ourselves out of possibilities before we have even taken the time to explore them.

Try asking yourself this question: If I knew I could figure it out, what would I really like to do? Don’t worry yet about how much it will cost, how long it will take, or whether anyone else thinks it's a good idea. You aren’t making a commitment. You are simply allowing yourself to consider what might be possible.

Turn the Dream Into Something You Can See

Once you have identified the dream, make it specific. “I want to travel more” is a wonderful idea, but it's difficult to create a plan around it. “I want to spend two weeks in Italy next September” gives you something to work toward. The same is true with money, business, health, education, or almost any other goal. The clearer you can make your dream, the easier it becomes to figure out how to achieve it.

Give your goal some details. What exactly do you want to accomplish? When would you like it to happen? How much money would you need? What would your life look like if you achieved it? You don’t have to know every detail, but your dream needs to become clear enough that you can begin making decisions around it.

Find Out What You Don’t Know

One reason we put off big goals is that we think we need to know exactly how we'll accomplish them before we begin. We don’t. We just need to know enough to figure out the next step.

If you want to start a business, your first step might be researching what it would cost and what you would need to get started. If you want to buy an investment property, you might begin by talking with a lender and finding out what you could realistically afford. If you are thinking about a new career, you could talk to someone already doing that work and ask how they got started.

Not knowing how to do something isn’t a reason to abandon the idea. It simply tells you what you need to learn next. Research it. Ask questions. Talk to people. Run the numbers. The more information you gather, the less mysterious the goal becomes.

Expect the Plan to Change

Of course, you can create the most beautiful plan in the world and life still happens. Something will cost more than you expected. An opportunity may fall through. You might discover that part of your original idea doesn’t make sense anymore. You may even find a better opportunity along the way. Changing the plan doesn’t mean you failed. It means you learned something.

I like to think of it like using GPS. When you miss a turn, it doesn’t announce that the entire trip is ruined and you should probably just go home. It simply finds another route. We could probably use a little more of that thinking with our goals. Sometimes getting where we want to go requires a few recalculations.

Start Before You Feel Completely Ready

At some point, though, you have to stop planning and do something. There will probably never be a morning when you wake up feeling completely prepared, totally confident, and certain that everything is going to work out exactly as planned. If you wait for that feeling, your dream may sit on the “someday” shelf for a long time.

Instead, choose one action you can take now. Make the phone call. Send the email. Open the savings account. Sign up for the class. Buy the domain name. Write the first page. Schedule the appointment. Whatever your first step is, take it.

There is something powerful about moving a dream out of your head and into your real life. Even one small action changes the way you think about it. You are no longer someone who is thinking about doing something someday. You have started.

Maybe your big dream will work out exactly the way you imagine it. Maybe it will take longer than you expect. Maybe it will lead you somewhere completely different. You might even try it and discover that you don’t want it as much as you thought you did. That’s okay too.

There is a big difference between deciding something isn’t right for you after giving it a chance and spending years wondering what might have happened if you had tried.

I don’t think there is an age when we are supposed to stop wanting something new for ourselves. You can appreciate the life you have built and still wonder what else might be possible. You can be content and ambitious at the same time. And you certainly don’t have to have everything figured out before you begin.

So think about that thing you have been putting in the “someday” category. Instead of asking yourself whether the entire dream is possible, try asking a much smaller question: What could I do this week that would move me one step closer?  Because maybe someday isn’t a date you have to wait for. Maybe someday starts the moment you decide to give your dream a real chance.