Make Plans to Dream

Last week, I participated in an online leadership training organized by world renowned leadership guru John Maxwell. It was great to get some “professional development” and hear some ideas to support the consulting and mentoring work that I am doing. Hearing different perspectives and learning from the successes of others is an excellent way of continuing to grow-something we should all be looking to do, no matter what age we are!

One of the speakers, Pastor Chris Hodges, spent time talking about the importance for all of us to have plans to dream-not the dreams we have when we sleep, but the goals, aspirations, and desires people have for the future. He shared six steps to help you get started when it comes to turning dreams into reality:

• Make plans to dream-make room to dream the dream.

• Dream something that is transcendent-go beyond the normal.

• Write the dream down-what we write down, research shows, we tend to follow through with and do.

• Share the dream with others-help others share their dream.

• Wake up and do something-nothing happens until we take action.

• Don’t give up on your dreams-endure and you will win in the end.

Pastor Hodges mentioned a way to get started with dreams is to create a bucket list-what we would think of as a list of things we want to do or accomplish before we “kick the bucket” but could also be thought of as things we want to accomplish before a specific milestone in their life. The focus should be to live a life with hopes and aspirations and hopefully can connect our life’s work with our values and goals. Pastor Hodges said a bucket list should not be static as our lives change and what we want to focus on may look different.

I will be honest and say that I have never created a bucket list even though I feel like I am always looking ahead and creating new goals and things to accomplish. However, the concept of writing down our goals and things to get done in the future is definitely a wise concept and provides focus for our future and gives us specifics to refer back to occasionally to judge how we are doing. This training has got me thinking about creating a bucket list of my own….my first items on the list include places to travel to (Washington D.C., Hawaii, Europe), and finishing and publishing my second book. I plan to “make plans to dream” and will share that list sometime in the future.

Some people might look at it like “I’m too old for a bucket list” or “I live my life day to day and don’t have time for one” but I think it is vital to be intentional about our futures and make sure we have a purpose for what’s to come. People with purpose and intentionality in their lives tend to be happier and higher achieving-something we should all be striving for.

Do you have a bucket list? What is on it or what would you put on it if you put one together? It might be as simple as starting with a list of activities you most? What are some things I need to start doing or opposite of that stop doing? This “planning to dream” could pay off in a large way. I challenge you to give this some thought to a bucket list and share it others to give yourse