I’ve long had the dream of living near the ocean and moving away from the harsh winters of Michigan. I’ve dreamed of working for myself and being successful in one business venture or another. I’ve longed to travel the world and explore the wonders of God’s creation. I’ve dreamed of leisurely mornings sipping coffee and watching the sunrise from my back porch instead of hustling through the morning routine to commute to a cubical every day. Dreams! Dreams! Dreams! So many dreams…. where do I begin?
A few weeks ago I turned 45. Yikes! How did that happen? For a long time I’ve been saying that “…by the time I’m 50…” and then profess some big lofty goal that I want to achieve. Oh boy! Reality has just set in! I’ve got a bunch of work to do if I want to meet any of my BHAGs (“big hairy audacious goals”) in the next five years. Less than five years! I’ve already wasted two weeks!
I don’t want the next 258 weeks (whoa!) to fly by without my paying attention…. so this website will be my accountability partner. It worked for me when I had weight loss surgery in 2007 and kept a blog for seven years as I documented my journey to health and weight loss. So it’s worth another try, right?
Here I will be 100% transparent and honest about the progress I make toward those big goals. Maybe I’ll be writing this to myself and nobody else will want to participate in my ramblings – and that’s OK – but maybe in my quest to fulfill my dreams, I’ll also help others as they fulfill theirs too. For the past year or so I’ve been struggling with what those “big goals” will actually be. I’ve started and stopped a few ventures. I’ve also gotten pretty far down a path that I’m not sure I want to be heading. (Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about that stuff.) I know what the end looks like (sorta) but I still need to figure out how to get there. So my big first step?
Defining my dreams!
First I have to get a very clear picture of what that dream is so I can start working to get there. I’m intentionally starting from scratch – out here in public for everyone to see! I don’t have a plan other than knowing that I NEED a plan. The website is rough, but that’s my intention — I’m not spending a lot of time decorating the dream. I’ll fuss with the site bit by bit along the way, but for now, I’m just jumping in with both feet and beginning the work it takes to get to where I so desperately want to be!
Next steps?
- develop a detailed picture of what the dream looks like for me. As Emmie recently asked: “What’s My End Game?”
- develop a plan for how I’ll achieve financial independence from the 9-to-5 grind. What will I be working on while I lounge on the beach?
- develop a master task list – the big picture needs to be broken down into bite size chunks
- develop a schedule to go along with that task list. There are only 258 weeks before I turn 50, time is a tickin’!
- keep you updated every step of the way
There’s a lot to do. But first… I’m about to define my dreams. What will you do first?