Rewind: Are You a Dreamer or a Doer?

Believe it or not, Beyond the Gray is coming up on its THIRD anniversary! (I know, I can’t believe it either!) I originally started this blog to declare my writing dream to the world, hold myself accountable to my publication goals, share my work with readers, and inspire others to follow their dreams. The cool thing is, this blog has helped me accomplish all of that and more. So, while I’m away on vacation this week, I thought I’d do a little rewind and re-post some earlier entries as motivation for those of you who are new here and as a reminder for those of you who aren’t.

Without further ado, today’s rewind is…

Are You a Dreamer or a Doer?

Originally posted on July 24, 2009

• Is your dream a priority in your life?
• Do you do at least one thing everyday to work towards it?
• Can you feel yourself inching closer to accomplishing what you want?
• Do you have a clear picture of where you want to be in six months? A year? Two years?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, you may be a dreamer, not a doer.

It’s one thing to have dreams, most people do. But it’s another thing to be a dreamer. The difference between the two is action. Your dreams won’t accomplish themselves and no one is out there waiting to discover you. The only person responsible for making your dreams come true is YOU. So if you have a dream, here are three easy steps you can take today to begin working towards it:

1. Write down your dream on a piece of paper.
2. Identify three key goals you would need to accomplish in order to reach your dream.
3. Break down those three goals into a series of smaller goals and tasks and do at least one of them. Tomorrow do another. And the day after that…another.

Every action you take and each task you accomplish is a small victory within itself because it puts you one step closer to where you want to be. Often times, dreams can seem so big that they feel impossible and out of reach. But everyone who’s living their dream has started exactly where you will: square one. Think about it, for every best-selling author there was the first word; for every rock star, the first note; for every race car driver, the first time behind the wheel; for every professional skier, the first run.

Everybody starts somewhere. Where will you?

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I posted this nearly 3 years ago, just after I had made the life-changing decision to follow my writing dream and pursue publication. I’ve literally been following the above three steps every day for seven years now. Looking back, it’s amazing to see my transformation from frightened, insecure, wannabe writer to published author and award-winning blogger. It’s proved to me that even though my head is filled with dreams, ultimately I am a doer.