How to turn dreams into reality

The simple 3-step formula

Step 1: Dream it!

Everything begins with a dream. Take the first step in creating a new reality — dream big! If you could do anything, what would you do? This first step is to find a dream that you are passionate about, something that you would walk to the ends of the earth to accomplish. We wrote a book all about step 1 called — of course — Dream It! In our book, we break the dream process down into three mini steps.

Fill your bucket

The first mini step to dreaming is to collect as many ideas as possible. We call this filling the bucket, or you could call it brainstorming.

Sort your treasure

Now that we have a bucket full of ideas, we need to sort them out. Which ones are our favorites, and which ones match our values?

Build a dream

Finally, we take the best of the best and we recombine the ideas until we get that AHA! feeling.

Step 1: Map it!

Once you choose a dream and commit to making it happen, now it is time to begin planning your journey. What steps do you need to take to reach your destination? What supplies will you need to bring with you? When will you begin? What will you do in case of bad weather? First, declare your commitment to the world. The more people you inspire, the merrier.

Plan for what you know

The first mini step to mappping is to make a plan of everything we know that we need. One example is the 5 w’s. We can outline the who, what, why, when and how.

Plan for what you know that do not know

After outlining what we know, we will find holes. Now our job is to make a plan on how to fill those holes. For example, we can ask a friend for advice.

Plan for what you don't know that you don't know

Finally, we need to create a backup plan. If we are setting out on a new adventure, even if that is to be a cupcake baker, we are bound to run into unknowns.

Step 3: Play it!

Once you have mapped (planned) your dream, you just have to do it. Sounds easy, right? The only thing separating you from your dream is participation — taking steps of action, trying and modifying, overcoming physical and emotional obstacles, and remembering to savor the accomplishments every step of the way.

Quickly

Imagine going to an amusement park. We want to ride all those rides as fast as possible. When turning dreams into reality, more is better!

Impeccably

Even though we want to turn dreams into reality as quickly as possible, we want to do it right. If we are painting a painting, we want it to be beautiful.

Joyfully

This may sound obvious, but we want to have the most fun possible. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, but if we are going to do it, we want it to be worthwhile in the end.