The Blog Library
Your Dream Life Quiz
“It is surprisingly easy to lose touch with our true passions – sometimes because we get distracted with everyday living; sometimes simply because in the usual stream of small talk or transactable business, no one ever asks us about our dreams.”
– Blake Mycoskie, Start Something That Matters
I read that and thought – you know what? He’s completely right.
No one ever asks us about our dreams. Let’s fix that, right now.
Articulating your dreams can be scary. If you put a name and a face on your dream, you’ll experience all kinds of cognitive dissonance – that uncomfortable feeling of wanting one thing, but living another. Better to let our dreams stay floating in the ether than allow them to perch upon our minds and make us wish for which we don’t have. So we bury our head in the sand and try to ignore our dreams.
Once you articulate a dream, yes, your mind holds you accountable if you’re not living it. That can make you miserable. It can also give you powerful motivation to move forward.
Do me a favor. Copy the rest of this post, paste it in a Word document (don’t read it beforehand – just do it), and spend at least 8 minutes answering the questions. There are 1,440 minutes in your day today – you can spend eight of them giving voice to your dreams, can’t you? You can keep the other 1,432 minutes for whatever you want. Promise.
1. What are three things you’ve always wanted to do, no matter how big or small?
a.
b.
c.
2. Tomorrow someone gives you your dream house, dream car, dream vacations, good health, and enough income to live off of for the rest of your life. After playing around for a year and enjoying your newfound wealth – you start to get bored. Restless. You need something to DO. At that point, what would you want to spend the rest of your life doing?
3. Look at your answer to #2. Why can’t you do that now?
4. No really, why? (Hint: if money is the issue, let me tell you right now – money is rarely, if ever, the real issue.)
5. What are some things you spend time doing that don’t really contribute to your life? Meaning: It’s not an irrevocable responsibility, it’s not productive, but it’s not restful, fun, or restorative either?
6. What would happen if you took the time you’ve been spending on those things, and started spending that time working toward one of your dreams?
7. Pick one of the dreams. What would be the first step?
8. Will you start today?
9. If you answered “no” or gave an excuse in #8, when are you going to start? Write it down, circle the date on the calendar, “my dream to ___________ starts today.”
10. Did scheduling your dreams freak you out a little?
(If yes, then good. Fear doesn’t always mean ‘danger,’ fear often means you’re venturing into the unknown – which is necessary to make a change. Keep moving!)
Okay! I’d say “you’re done,” but you’re not done – this is just a baby step. It’s up to you to take the next one, whatever it may be. 🙂 Do it!
Thank you for a timely post – and one that hits home! I have been playing around in my head with an idea – a dream – that I want to make a reality, and for the past month I’ve *almost* made that first step (well, not really first – the idea, the desire, those came first). In fact, I did some more research on it just yesterday (talking with a knowledgeable accountant friend about non-profit paperwork). Your post both affirmed some of my recent changes (eliminating a couple of non-productive, non-fun activities that were eating up parts of my life) and affirmed that I am headed the right way. And am ready to nudge myself into the next step – the ACTION step! Thank you …
I really needed this! I feel like I am living a double life: the one I am living between 8-5 and the one I daydream about between 8-5. Fear is such a funny thing. Fear of starting something because of negative “what ifs” is so silly, and yet I find myself talking myself out of starting all the time!
I am going to show my responses to my husband so he can hold me accountable to how I can be more productive and help me on my way to actually achieving my dreams!! Thanks again 🙂
ROCK ON Emily! I’m so happy for you to start moving in the direction you want to head in – and I know you’re going to succeed. Why? Well, aside from you being awesome, you’ve already arranged for someone other than you to hold you accountable. Once we know that someone *other* than us is going to follow up, things start moving. Way to go.
Thank you so much for this post! About three months ago I quit my job to pursuit photography. And I’ve been taking classes to improve, but I feel very scared. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long, but now that I am able to do it, I’m sort of frozen. I didn’t really know where to begin. I think I do now, thanks to your post. I was sure that I already knew the answer somehow but I didn’t know how to find it. Thank you! 😀
I spend most of my time NOT doing my day job because I am in an emotional divorce with it and have been for at least a year, if not longer. I’m about to give notice without doing the reasonable thing: I have no pipeline. My part-time photography business practices are a mess. I give crappy customer service because I have zero time and energy.
I have some savings, enough to get me through 6 months of zero income. I’ve never done anything seemingly irresponsible before because (in answer to #4): I don’t want to look foolish and suffer the wrath of others. Because I don’t believe I can really do this. I don’t know how to do these things. And, I’m exhausted.
I’m planning to take a week for myself to do nothing on anything. Sleep, do yoga, journal, meditate. And then I will hit the ground running. I will either succeed or I will wind up waiting tables or working at Starbucks to meet my monthly nut as I work toward success.
I’ve had small part-time business ventures before, but there was never a net to catch me when I leaped into them because I never have leaped full-bore into the wild blue.
I am 42 years old. I have wasted 5 years in a job I never wanted (but had no clue about what I really wanted). I know what I want. I have an inkling how to do it.
Now I just need to give MYSELF permission to launch.
Probably the best thing I’ve ever found online.. Thanks for inspiring me even more to follow my dreams.. Thanks A LOT! 😉