There are many ways to the top of a mountain but not everyone gets to plant their flag there. Failing to fulfill your business dream isn't necessarily because what you have to offer isn't wanted or needed. Failure is often the result of dream robbers.
Maybe your dream is to have your own business, or simply to work full time for a good company. You spend so much of your life working, why spend it being miserable or hating what you do? Why just dream about something better? Perhaps you have already been robbed of a dream. Wouldn't you like your dream to come true? Let's do something about it.
Everything starts with a dream
Fulfilling a dream makes you come alive. When you have a dream you get excited and it brings you joy. Take note of that because when your dream is being challenged the joy and excitement disappear.
So where are you right now? Do you have a dream or not? If you are not already living your dream, why not at least do some dream exploration? It doesn't cost you anything to dream.
A great place to be is when you have nowhere to go but up
You may be at rock bottom looking up at a big mountain. It's going to be a lot of work. So what? Pursuing a dream may be the most exciting adventure of your life.
Do not be concerned about how humble your beginnings look. There is nothing wrong with starting small and growing slowly. Every successful business doesn't have to take off like a rocket. Don't let other people set your goals for you. A simple goal might be to do well enough to provide for both you and your clients needs. Later on one of the bigger challenges will be managing your growth.
Guard your dream
This is where most people fail, they don’t guard their dreams. They fall prey to dream robbers. I've seen very talented people start a venture and look like they were going to be wildly successful. Suddenly their enterprise dives to the ground and comes to a halt. They give up and move on to something else. This becomes a pattern that happens over and over again. It seems they never get past a certain point.
What is a dream robber?
There are 3 kinds of dream robbers:
- The negative seed planter - This kind of dream robber could be your mother or father, a friend, relative, co-worker, an authority figure, or even a stranger. It could also simply be something in the media you heard or saw.
- The bad decision maker or indecisive person - This kind is someone who either makes business killing mistakes or a person that is unwilling to make a decision.
- Unbalanced lifestyle - This one is sneaky and a real killer.
Dream robbers are inevitable. They exist just because you have a dream.
Don't listen to the negative seed planters
A seed will only produce whatever kind of tree or crop that the seed is. An apple seed won't produce a pear tree. Likewise, if you allow all the negative things that people tell you to take root in your thinking such as you are not good enough or talented enough, etc., your drean will be choked out and you will never succeed. Listening to the negative seed planters will rob you of your dream.
Marilyn Monroe is a Hollywood legend. If she had listened to what the experts told her she never would have made it in the movie business. Columbia Pictures let her first contract expire because they told her that she wasn't pretty enough or talented enough to be an actress. [Source: Business Insider]
Make good decisions not bad ones
Some people are indecisive and won't make a decision. This is based in fear. You need to overcome fear. Other people are reckless and make business killing decisions such as spending more money than they earn. Both of these types of behaviours are dream robbers.
Take personal responsibility for all your decisions. They are your responsibility alone, not others who have no stake in your success. Be a person that makes good decisions. Spend your time with people who are successful and learn from them. Don't spend your time with people who aren't doing anything or going anywhere. Don't be afraid of making mistakes along the way. Learn from your mistakes, don't let them rob you of your dream.
An unbalanced lifestyle is a killer dream robber
Your dream can be robbed by abusing your mental and physical heath. You have one body and it is important to keep it running well. Built into your body are warning indicators when things are getting out of balance. By ignoring the warning signs and blowing them off you are heading for serious trouble.
An early warning sign that things are out of balance is anxiety. Remember when your dream first came? It came with a sense of joy and excitement. When you are hit with anxiety it is an indicator that you need to make an adjustment. If you blow off anxiety and ignore it your well being will deteriorate and the next serious warning your body will give you will be an emotional breakdown. If you don't do something to turn things around and continue doing what you are doing you are headed for a nervous breakdown. A nervous breakdown will stop you in your tracks. You may recover from a it but you run the risk of permanent damage to your health. You might never be same.
What causes these negative symptoms are things in life and in your job that drain you. Things that drain are different for everyone. Something that might drain you may be a really bad client, or doing things that you aren't meant to do such as accounting if you are not good at it. Certain kinds of meetings may drain you. Serious personal problems in relationships may drain you. You can endure draining activities much better if your life is balanced and you are continually filling yourself up with things that offset the drainers and put life back into you.
Things that fill you up and help you to cope better with drainers are activities like spending time with family and friends and laughing, enjoyable hobbies, and other happy and positive influences. When you fill yourself up like this, your body is better able to endure those times when there are drains on you. Working harder and never having any fun isn't the answer to being successful. Hard work is easier to do when you live a balanced lifestyle. When there is a lot of stress in your job or you are greatly challenged you need to step up and increase the things that fill up your life, not back away from them.
Don't let others determine what success is for you
Remember why you wanted to pursue your dream in the first place. It might have been that you wanted to have control over your time, or to be able to pick your own clients, or to pick what kinds of projects you want to work on instead of someone else dictating what you do. Also, beware of pursuing a dream solely to make a lot of money, it is wrought with peril.
Success means different things to different people so don't let others tell you you are not successful if you don't measure up to their ideal of success. This is your life and fulfilling a dream will bring meaning to it and give you joy.
What will be your final thought when you are breathing your last breath?
What will go through your head when you are breathing your last breath on earth? Will it be that you pursued your dream and you have no regrets? If your last thought is that you regretted something then you were probably robbed by a dream robber. You still have time to do something about it, so what are you waiting for? Get on with it and start pursuing your dream.