Turn your big dreams into actionable steps

I was born a daydreamer. Happy to sit with my thoughts, ideas, creativity and mindless meanderings, I could lose hours in my head. Turning dreams into actionable steps, not so much.

Dreams of being a mega-famous triple threat, the acting-singing-dancing prodigy the world was waiting for, I spent a lot of time with my imagination.

I learned the piano, kind of. I didn’t like practising much.

My Nan told me I was like a young Meryl Streep when I was not even 10 years old. I was a mimic; of behaviours and accents from the beginning. I studied acting after school, and considered becoming a professional.

Yet, Mum eventually stopped me from going to acting lessons. Stopped me from going to piano lessons. Stopped because of course as a child I kept complaining about the LESSONS and the PRACTISE. BO-RING.

Plus FAILURE. So scared of trying because I didn’t want to fail. If you don’t try you can’t lose, right?

What I kind of wish is that my parents had gently pushed me through that childish tantrum of anti-rehearsal behaviour and fear of failure. Why? Now I’d probably be living that dream and sitting in Toni Collette’s position.

In retrospect, I think my immature mind thought I would be discovered (I told you I was a daydreamer). That my hopes would come to fruition purely because of how much I wanted them. It was pre-determined by the stars, surely, and fate would lift me through the pain of having to try and just make me a success?

Hear that? That’s the echo of me coming back to earth with a gigantic thud many years ago.

……Wait…. you have to WORK for what you want??

Not only do you have to work for it, but you also have to do heaps of humdrum, and repetitive things, and deal with regular disappointments, upsets and setbacks. That’s how life works. It’s a hard slog. Work is a necessary part of life. You have to work hard if there’s something you want.

As Howard Shultze once pointedly exclaimed…

“Optimism is not a strategy”.

So yes, dream your dreams. Think big. Brainstorm like nobody’s watching.

But then make the plans. Be strategic. Research. Learn. And most importantly DO THE WORK.

Put ideas into action. Use systems. Be kind to future you by creating a plan.

So how?! How am I supposed to turn my big dreams into actionable steps?

At Make Good Things Happen we’ve created two very easy-to-use, yet powerful tools that put the big dreams into actionable steps. From the big picture to the day-to-day.

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The first? Our Year at a Glance spreadsheet—designed specifically for makers in business.

This powerful tool includes a year-long calendar for plotting key plans and an overview tab to define your mission, values, target market, operational and sales focus, and track your goals with clarity.

Once you’ve mapped out your year and key plans, use the weekly Action Planner to carefully construct your days and weeks to ensure you get all-of-the-things done.

Now I believe in what my Mum always said to me from the beginning; “the harder you work, the luckier you are.”

Give it a go! It may move you from the thinking space into the action space where real stuff happens.

How do you turn your ideas into actions?

Members of Make Good Things Happen have access to our practical (and pretty) resources, login and download instantly to get started.

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