Monday Motivation | How to achieve your dreams, when you don't know what to do.

This week I got the chance to catch up with a few friends.  Working from home lessens the amount of social interactions I have so I was  extremely grateful to connect them.  What was interesting was that each of the conversations had one reoccurring theme.  They were unhappy with their current circumstances and desired something different.  One was in a career she loathed for over a decade, another was challenged with a position with no work life balance. Another was in an industry where layoffs were possibly in the future for her.  Basically, all of them wanted to experience a different version of the life they were living.

But what I kept hearing, over and over again, was how they didn't yet have the big idea that could lead them into working for themselves.  Or, as one described, she didn't have any passions or special talents to pursue and turn into a profitable venture.

If any of you fall into that category, you came to right place.  I've put a little thought and will offer my advice on how to create a new reality for your life but don't know exactly what you should be doing.

Tip #1. 
If I wanted to live a fulfilled life, while never having to work for someone again, the first thing I'd do is find others who've done it.  There are countless "I quit my job and now I get to live the life I want" stories on the internet.  The amount of inspiration available to you is immeasurable.  Find as many of those stories as possible and read them every chance you get.  Read them on your lunch break, on the weekend, and especially after a difficult day at work.  The more you read the more your mind will accept how easy it is to do.  I think a lot of people see this transition as this huge undertaking and they get scared.  Yeah, it's not easy to give up a high paying career especially when you amassed student loan debts to achieve it.  It feels kinda wasteful.  The last 4-5 months prior to my resignation, I flooded my mind with stories of high earners who left their high paying careers to experience the life they wanted.  I did this to break the attachment I had to my bi-weekly paycheck.  It also helped me to accept that a paycheck is just one way to make a healthy living and I had a choice to make of how I preferred to generate income.

Tip #2
The more stories you connect with, the more you realize that there is no "big idea."  I think we sometimes wait for that million dollar business idea to strike us before we start moving into action.  But, you'll soon realize that any idea can essentially generate income for you.  Everything can be monetized.  Everything.  If there's something you like to do as a hobby, check online to see if anyone turning that hobby into full time income.  Chances are, it's happening.  Study their business and find out what they did in the beginning to grow their current level.   Replication is the easiest way to save time.  Heck, even reach out to them if you have to.  I remember finding a really successful blogger in my city and emailing her to have lunch with me.  Unfortunately, she turned down my invitation but she invited me to her blogger's meetup group instead.  The first time I went, I stayed late and she offered to give me a ride back to my car.  We struck up a conversation in her car which lasted nearly 30 minutes.  I was filled with an incredible amount of inspiration that I'm grateful for to this day.

Tip #3 
One friend had an idea for a product that she already determined was in demand. Another friend wanted to revisit an idea she started last year but stopped working on.  Another identified her passion but didn't know what to do next.  The last friend kept repeating the mantra that she couldn't think of anything that could create an income for her.  All of them had one thing in common.  They were not IN ACTION.  Being IN ACTION simply means that at least 1 step was being taken to move closer to their goal.  The step can be in the form of an itty bitty baby step.  It didn't matter, as long as the person could say, "this what I'm doing."  

Being in action is the nutrient rich blood that will alter your reality.  Without action, your dreams are dead.   

I don't care what action you take.  Really, I don't care, as long as you are doing something.*
 I believe that moving towards something will cause it to also move towards you.  The slower you move towards it, the slower it moves towards you.  If you run towards it, your goals run just as quickly in your direction.  When you are talking about what you want [while standing still], it just stands there waiting for you.  I want you to picture your end result as a physical thing.  It's in an undisclosed location waiting for you.  And when you move into action, it moves with you.

"But what if I don't know what action to take?"  

When you don't know what to do, do what you know.  I honestly don't believe people when they say they don't know where to start.  I mean, I believe they believe in what they're saying.  But I don't believe that they don't really know what to do.  What I think is that they haven't put their mind into coming up with the very next step.  You don't need to know how to make a million dollars.   All you need to focus on is the very next step in front of you.  That's all!

I still live by the mantra that all you have to do is make that first $1.00.  You can't make your millions until you get that dollar.  On everyone's goal list for 2015 is to earn a dollar that wasn't given to them by their employer.  Bonus points if the dollar was earned passively.  That's when the real fun begins.


If you want to move into action in creating the life you want, send me an email so we can work together 1 on 1.

Have a highly successful week!