Reaching for your dreams requires courage and a healthy dose of positive thinking because there are many obstacles that life may put in your way. Unfortunately, you may be sabotaging your own success or suffering from lows self esteem and a lack of confidence. There is hope though, I will show you how to turn this around with my ten top tips for reaching your dreams.
You need courage and a positive attitude to reach your dreams. By overcoming low self esteem, negative self talk and lack of confidence you open the door to success. First, develop a vision, look to the future with courage and forget your past, do what you love and learn to give.
It is very easy to say do this or that, be confident, determined and know what you want in life, but in practice it is not easy. Let’s be honest, you need time and you need to work on this. As someone who has been writing about this topic for over twenty years, as a published Author, Teacher and Life Coach, with experience working with University Students and with clients suffering from low self esteem issues, I would like to share with you my top ten tips for reaching your dreams and becoming more successful in life.
I hope you find this page helpful, and if so, please share it with others who need this help.
My Top Ten Tips to Reach Your Dreams
- Before you ever hope to achieve anything you need to create a dream, a vision of what exactly you want (Haverkampf 2017). Your dream needs to be clear in your mind, because this will drive you to success in achieving it. If you are unclear about what you want, you should spend some time thinking about what you most like to do. Focus on things you are passionate about and you will soon figure out what you want to do in life. You can then start to create a vision and a plan to achieve it. While doing this, it is important to develop the belief that you will succeed, and this will make it more likely to succeed.
- Forget the past, concentrate on now. Your success does not depend on what happened before, but what you do from now on. Your history is not something which decides if you can succeed. For example, some people believe they have a disadvantage, and even persuade themselves that success is more difficult for them because of their race, their age or whatever else they believe limits them. The truth is, it is not your age or anything else that limits you, it is what you think. An example of this is Colonel Sanders of KFC fame (see YourStory, 2012). You know the old guy who invented the recipe for KFC chicken and made millions. He didn’t see his age as a problem, and he completely changed what he was doing to make a fortune. He actually started KFC when he was 65. He received the honorary title of Colonel from the State of Kentucky due to his accomplishments in business.
- Work doing something you love. If you do this it won’t seem like work at all. Try the opposite, (many people do just that, they hate their job), and see how difficult it s to make a success of it.
- Have confidence and believe in yourself. Self-confidence is also related to your self esteem. Believing you can reach the dreams and goals you set yourself is half the battle.
- Be prepared to give first and what you give will pay back tenfold. Don’t expect others to give you and think that the take mentality will get you anywhere. Always think how you can help others and they will thank you in kind. Business and personal life work in the same way. Those who take all the time are never successful. Take your time and give of yourself and you will be rewarded.
- Learn from your mistakes and be happy that you made them for they have shown you what doesn’t work which brings you closer to knowing what does. If you see mistakes as necessary steps to learning and improving then you will never fear failure. This means you will never avoid doing what is necessary in case it doesn’t work. Learn every day from the lessons that life gives you. Learning is timeless and priceless. If you are open and receptive to it, you’ll learn new things on a daily basis. It is a continuous process, we are constantly evolving in our thinking, our relationships, our interactions, our careers. Take it all as a learning experience to help you get to your destination, and you will be empowered to push the limits rather than discouraged to the point of giving up. This is the true path to success and achieving your goals.
- Developing new and creative ideas continues on from the above. To do this you need to dream big, have courage and take chances (Craig, 2014). Maybe your ideas won’t work at first but if you persist you may create something truly original and what could be more successful than that?
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. No-one can know everything. The person who never asks for help and goes it alone is often low in self esteem and afraid of looking weak or stupid. Admit your weaknesses and accept you need to learn more. Cooperation is one of the cornerstones of reaching your dreams. Maybe someone you know may share your dream and help you to achieve it quicker than you ever could on your own so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Be positive whenever you can. Mistakes, as we have said, are a part of the journey towards achieving your goals and without positivity you may give up before you succeed. Attitude is everything.
- Don’t be selfish while chasing your dreams. Help others to succeed and want others to be successful. If you are jealous of others’ success or if you want others to fail you build everything on negative emotions and trap yourself in failure. This is in tune with no.5 above that you should give first. Don’t be so concerned with only yourself and you will open yourself to the benefits of cooperation and friendship.
Some Important Points to Consider When Trying to Reach Your Dreams
One thing that needs to be added before we finish is that, when reaching for your dreams, be sure to be flexible with goals and be prepared to modify them according to your values (Ellis, 1999). Situations change and you need to be able to adapt quickly.
Another very important point is that if you want to make your dreams real then your work towards your goals should bring you joy. Every step should be a step towards creating a happier and more joyful life filled with the dreams that you want for yourself, only then can you succeed (Canfield, 2011).
As long as you have a positive attitude, are honest with yourself and have the self belief and persistence to get through life’s obstacles, then you can achieve anything you want. Know this and take action to create the future you deserve. Good luck!
Reading self-help books and other materials designed to help you become more self aware can really help. If you’ve struggled at all to make use of books or other materials to improve yourself, go read my explanation of why self help is the best help for you and how you can make it work.
If you want to improve how you feel about yourself then check this out! Self hypnosis really works, check out the link below and take action now!
The Success Factor CD contains 4 specially selected hypnosis sessions.
Watch This Inspiring Speech by Steve Jobs
Follow your heart. Love and loss. Purpose. It’s all here in a short video talk. Watch it.
References
- Canfield, J. (2011). The Key to Living the Law of Attraction: The Secret to Creating the Life of Your Dreams. Hachette UK.
- Craig, G. D. (2014). Your Dreams-Your Vision-Your Life. Lulu. com.
- Ellis, D. B. (1999). Creating Your Future: Five Steps to the Life of Your Dreams. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Haverkampf, C. J. (2017). Finding Your Dreams.
- YourStory. (2012). The story of Colonel Sanders, a man who started at 65 and failed 1009 times before succeeding. https://yourstory.com/2012/07/the-story-of-colonel-sanders-a-man-who-started-at-65-and-failed-1009-times-before-succeeding/