A businessman decides one day that he wants to create an inheritance for his family. Something that will help them in the generations to come. He choses to grow a forest. He has plenty of arid land and if he plants the forest now, in 50 years it will be a valuable resource for his descendants.

He buys 1000 Saplings and hires a worker to plant them.

The week that the project is to begin he is called out of town on business. So he shows his worker a map of his land and tells him to plant the trees while he is gone.

A week later the businessman returns anxious to see his future forest.

He asks the worker to take him to where he planted the saplings. The worker proudly takes him to the lake where he did his planting. When they arrive at the spot the businessman only sees a handful of saplings by the lake. He asks were the rest are. The worker with a confused look on his face tells the businessman that he has planted all the saplings here by the lake. It seemed like such a good place to put them right by the water, so no one would have to carry buckets of water to care for them.

The businessman asked the worker.

“Didn’t you realize that the tide would wash away the sapling from the shoreline? And besides, there is barely enough room here by the lake for 20 trees, how could you plant all 1000 right here?”

The following week after learning what was involved in planting and growing the businessman bought another 1000 saplings and explained to the worker what the forest was to look like in the future, where to plant the trees and how to care for them. Throughout the process the business man was there supervising and supporting the workers efforts.

And so it became that the dream of the businessman was realized. Fifty years later those saplings had grown into mighty pine trees. As the trees grew they released their own seeds into the land and now there were far more trees than those original 1000. It was a fine forest providing lumber, saplings and other materials for many generations to come.

Do you have vision? Do you hold a picture in your mind of what your future life will be? And if you do how is that vision expressing it self in your daily actions.

In the story the businessman is your vision of a meaningful future. A realization that action has to be taken know to ensure material/physical/spiritual success down the road.

The worker is our actions. The doing required to achieve our visions and goals.

In the story our worker (actions) failed the first time around because our businessman (vision) went away and left the worker without sufficient information. This is representative of actions taken on a fleeting vision. You here or think of something that inspires you and you rush to take action on it, but your action is without solid awareness of what is required. The result is failure, frustration and lost effort.

In the end our businessman realizes that it is more than just having a vision, he must deepen his awareness of what is involved in bringing that vision to realization. And with that clear understanding of what is involved the worker can take the proper action, and be guided by the businessman holding the vision ever present.

YOU must SEE and KNOW the forest, before you plant that first sapling.

Coaching Questions.

What is your goal?

Why is it important to you?

What information do you need to make that goal happen?

What are the action steps required to achieve your goal?

What is the first action step?

Often when you ask a person “What are your dreams?” you receive little more than a blank stare. It’s almost as if you just short circuited their brain. I know that for many of you if you ask yourself the question, you will begin to feel a tightening in your chest, or a lump in your throat, you wont even know where to begin.

This is a far cry from the response you get when you ask a child the same question. A child will give you a wide smile and then excitedly share with you all their dreams and aspirations. We were like that too at one point, but somewhere along the way after being told numerous times “Stop dreaming and be realistic”, “Dreaming is for children”, “That not for you”, we shut off the dream switch and never looked back.

I’m doing fine without dreaming. Why do I need to start dreaming now?

Answer this question.
If you had all the money, resources and time in the world, would you be doing exactly what your are doing now?

For most people the answer is a resounding “NO”.

For others who have been constantly setting life goals (another word for dreams), the answer

might be more along the lines of “Yes. But”.

You are not where you want to be, you don’t know where you want to be, and you don’t even know how to get there.

It’s time to start dreaming again.

Einstein dreamed of riding a beam of light and came up with the theory of relativity.

Thomas Edison dreamed of harnessing the power of the lightening bolt and invented the incandescent light bulb.

Alexander Graham Bell dreamed of sending messages over long distance and invented the telephone.

Mankind dreamed of traveling in space and Armstrong walked on the moon.

Airplanes, computers, Internet, cars, solar power.

All these things came about because people had dreams.

These dreams to overwhelming?

How about.

Being a better parent.
Improving your relationships.
Growing your business.
Loosing weight.
Buying a home.
learn a language
Meditate.
Buy a new car.
Pay of your debt.
Learn to play an instrument.
Hike through the Rockies.
Sky Dive
Help your community.
Become a better role model.

These are also things to dream of and achieve.

There is no such thing as standing still in life, you are either moving forward or falling back. If you don’t have dreams/goals you are going to continually slip into a life of mediocrity and boredom.

So how do we begin to dream again?

Follow a system, start small and be SMART.

1. Write a list of 50 – 100 dreams. – Set aside an hour and begin to write your dreams/goals.

If you are having a hard time starting use the following categories as idea starters.

Mental - Things you want to learn about, think about, improve in your character.
Physical – Health, exercise, adventure, travel, financial, material.
Spiritual - Meditation, philosophy, state of mind.

Sit until you have come up with at least 50 dreams.

2. Reflect – Spend the next week looking over your list 2-3 times a day. Think about your dreams. In your minds eye see your dreams fulfilled. Add new dreams that come to mind. Take out dreams that aren’t what you really want.

3. The first three. – Pick three dreams that can be achieved in the next 3 – 6 months. Picking dreams that can be easily attained helps to work your dream/goal muscles.

4. Time to get S.M.A.R.T.

S – Get really Specific about your dream. The clearer your dream the more likely you will achieve it. Don’t say “I want a new car”, say “I want a 2008, porsche 911, red, manual transmission etc…”

M – Method and Measurable. What do you have to do to reach your dream and how will you know when you have achieve it? With the car example, the ‘Method’ might be, check out cars, cut out pictures, speak to a financial planner. The ‘Measurable’ would be car in the driveway.

A – Attainable. Set up your approach in a well structured manner. Make sure you can reach your goal in the time allotted.

R – Realistic. Know yourself and approach your goal accordingly. If you know you are bad at saving and you always blow your paycheck with nothing at the end to save, then make sure you take your savings off first. Maybe even put it in an account that is joint and you can’t take out money unless you have a co-signer.

T – Time. Set the time frame. Whatever time you give yourself add two weeks.

Once you have achieved your first three dreams go onto the next three. Review your dreams regularly. You will see that over time your dreams will change and grow, your dreams will be bigger and more creative, and what you once thought impossible will start to be easily attainable.

Somewhere along the way you fell off the path of realizing your dreams, but know the hunger is returning, you need to dream again.

Though the summit of success may be off in the distant it is only by taking those small steps that you can start to climb out of mediocrity and eventually reach the exhilarating peak of your true self.

Feel free to share some of your dreams in the comments section. You just might find someone who can help you fulfill one of your dreams .

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Jump start your Dreaming? Join my “Help 500″ Project.

The risks we take are the stepping stones to our best life. Some of these risks might land us in the river, but if we step carefully we can get to the other side were our dreams and goals lie.

So the Question for today:

What Risk Do You Need To Take, To Get Closer To Success?

What is that single small action that you can take today to bring yourself closer to the realization of your goals.

It is not enough to know what you need to do. You must also take action.

Decide what that step is and ACT.

Please share your steps in the comments below.

Don’t forget to check out the “Help 500″ project.