What Dream Do You Need to Revive?

Are there dreams you have given up on?  I don’t mean the one you had when you were a child to be a ballerina or a super hero?  I mean the ones you had as an adult. Maybe FEAR and doubt got in the way.  Maybe life got in the way – taking care of everyone else so you let the dream fade.

I will admit, I have let dreams fade over the last few years.  Life definitely got in the way – health issues caused me to struggle and doubt whether any of it was possible.  But the dreams are slowly starting to resurface.  I have faced some of my fears and am struggling through a vision casting process.

Vision casting is when you place yourself in the moment of the dream becoming a reality.  You let go of all fear, doubt and negativity while you enjoy and FEEL the moment.  My director did this with me many years ago – the year I promoted to Director.  As she shared the story with a hundred other women on a call last week, the tears came back to me.  I remembered the moment we broke through and I could actually feel what the moment would be like.  It was a miracle on many counts because I actually remembered the conversation AND I was inspired to dream again.

Think about this for a minute:

You are the only person who can decide to pursue your dream. Books don’t write themselves. Businesses don’t launch themselves. You’ve got to take the first step and keep stepping.

So, let’s talk about how YOU can dust off the dream and bring it back to life…..

1. What dream is sleeping in your life you wish were still a possibility?

Have you buried your dream so deep you forget about it?  Think about it for a moment. The dream which needs to be awakened could be connected to your professional life, your finances, a relationship,  your health, or your personal life. What is the dream for you right now? Write it down!

2. What do you need to give yourself permission to do it?

We bury things which are important for a variety of reasons.  Whatever reason made you bury the dream, it’s time to give yourself permission to dream again.  It’s okay.  Were you hurt and decided it was safer not to go down a certain road anymore?  Did naysers convince you it wasn’t possible?   Did responsibilities in life dictate it was better to let your dream die?  Or did the dream seem impossible to achieve, so you gave up?  Whatever your reason, use the past as a learning tool to recast your dream. Have the faith to believe nothing is impossible.

3. What do you need to say about it?

Speak life into your dream NOW!  Remember “The Secret” and positive attraction?  Say your dream out loud.  Hear the words, I mean really hear them!  Attract the positive, not the negative!  Share your dream with someone else!  Then observe how you talk about it.  When you state all the reasons you can’t have what your heart desires, you speak negativity (death) to your dream.  Each negative word is like a shovel, digging the grave and then piling dirt onto it until you can no longer see your dream. Negative words will steal your vision.  Are you going to let “words” steal your dream?

4. What action will you take next?

Did you know we kill our dreams with inaction?  When you don’t make any steps, even baby ones, towards the dream, you have sentenced it to death.  The best way to revive your dream is to take some action.  Never stop believing your dream is possible,.  As long as you are taking steps towards it, it is!  Don’t put a time frame on it.  Just continue to step towards it and things will start to happen. Start with one small step, then another. Even baby steps, when taken consistently, will get you to the finish line.

I challenge you to dust off your old dream and give it new life.  Whether you use the questions above or vision cast – let yourself dream again.  My dream is to promote to Senior Director with Thirty One and be a member of the Gives Council.  TWO BIG dreams which are really scary but I’m not letting go of them this time.

Share your BIG scary dream with us!  Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Confidence + Consistency = Success

The year 2017 has become the year of “positive mantras” for me.  I am stomping on the inner gremlins and growing in confidence.  Confidence + Consistency = Success!  There is nothing to stand in the way of me reaching my goals….. but me!

I have those days…. the days when the inner gremlins wake me up in the middle of night telling me how horrible I am or beating me up for not being as good as someone else.  It has been awhile since I have talked about my inner gremlins.  WHY?  Because silly me thought they were gone.  I was feeling confident, positive and ready to conquer the world.

So what happen? Life…. yup.  Nothing earth shattering just every day normal stuff.  Got lots of Nos instead of Yes’s from people I asked to book a party.  Wasn’t I working on a 100 No Challenge?  Didn’t hit the mark on my daily steps.  The numbers on the scale not going down fast enough for me.  Income (sales, etc) not where I would like it to be to keep chopping away at old debt.  Oh, then the pancakes where a little thick.  I know, silly right?  But the truth is, I am not alone.  There are many of us who give those inner gremlins a crack in the door and they come barreling through.  Who is with me?

How many of you have let those little bumps in the road effect your entire day or week or month?  Those inner gremlins see an opening and they RUN through eager to help beat you up from the inside.  The rest of the world is like “no big deal”, “things will be okay” or “have patience” while we are in crisis mode beating ourselves up.

This year, I have been taking a stand.  I am working hard to stay out of the funk and slam the door on those nasty gremlins.  I mean if you are going to have a snowball of emotions, wouldn’t you rather it be positive then negative?

‘When you face a compelling opportunity to take action, fear lulls you into inaction, enticing you to passively watch its prophecies fulfill themselves.’  ‘Your fears distort your reality. Under the warped logic of fear, anything is better than the uncertain.’

WOW!  Deep, right?  But how many times have you had an opportunity to move forward toward success – your success – and fear came calling so you stopped in your tracks?  I think all of us have been there no matter what life stage we’re at.

Our fears, our critics, our heroes, our villains are all just our excuses, our rationalizations, our shortcuts, and our justifications.  We need to choose to see through them.  Or will you let fear paralyze you from going after what you want?

We need to hold ourselves accountable for every moment, every thought, and every detail. You need to see beyond your fears. Recognize your assumptions. Harness your internal strength. Silence your inner gremlins. Correct your misconceptions about success. Accept your strengths and your weaknesses, and understand the difference.  Open your heart to your bountiful blessings.

For me, it comes with positive mantras every morning.   I will admit, the “train your brain” concept was often lost on me.  I LOVE Dana Wilde BUT I always let fear and doubt overrule the training in my brain.  I borrowed some of Dana’s mantras, some from others I admire in business and some I wrote on my own.  I have found when the inner gremlins come knocking, I go to my office, read my mantras, take 5 minutes to feel them and visualize where I want to be personally and professionally.  It works!

So here are some of my mantras:

• I am a successful CEO
• I am making a difference in the lives of others
• I am confident and strong
• My incoming money far exceeds my outgoing
• I am a blessed child of God
• I am at my goal weight and easily maintain it

You get the idea, right?  I BELIEVE these things are going to happen.  I have decided NOT to let fear take control of my success.  What about you?

These words of wisdom may inspire you:

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. ― Bruce Lee

The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised. ― Norman Vincent Peale

The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it. ― Thomas S. Monson

Don’t count the days, make the days count. ― Muhammad Ali

Life’s a marathon, not a sprint. ― Phillip C. McGraw

What will be your mantra as you reach for your success?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!