Each and every one of us is born with a dream in our hearts. Over time, though, we come up with excuses to stop pursuing these dreams. This is often the result of settling for something that we make ourselves believe is just as good.
Maybe you squash aspirations of going to college because you keep saying, “A high school diploma is basically as good as a college degree.” However, you don’t have to let your dreams die. Here are five ways that you can keep them alive.
1. Don’t Let Your Friends Kill Your Goals
Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker and American entrepreneur, once said that you are the “average” of the five people you spend the most time with. If you do the math and don’t like the results, you have to make a change.
Unfortunately, friends who don’t have motivation may keep you from staying persistent. Surrounding yourself with people who are like-minded or want to see you succeed can help you keep your hopes alive and even discover new ones.
2. Practice Reaching Goals
It’s common for women to have long-term goals to achieve. Having long-term goals helps you with finding your purpose. However, they aren’t easy to attain. You have to keep working toward them. When all that you have is long-term goals, you tend to forget what it’s like when you reach a goal.
For that reason, it’s also good to have short-term goals that you can easily attain. These goals help you practice staying focused, which will help you reach your long-term dreams. Set some short-term goals, and practice reaching them to stay focused on the future.
3. Dream Big and Share Those Dreams With Others
Do you remember in elementary school when you would let your imagination run wild? During recess, you might have shared your aspirations with others. Believe it or not, flexing your imagination in this way is good for you. Unfortunately, we stop letting our imaginations stretch out as we grow up.
Do you want to keep your dreams alive? Then you have to help yourself find a purpose. Sometimes, this involves giving yourself time to dream. Get lost again in your imagination, and share it with others. By sharing your desires, you keep them alive.
4. Maintain Your Momentum
Finding your purpose is hard to do if you lose your momentum. People often get discouraged if they aren’t performing to their highest potential all the time. In reality, as long as you continue to move toward your goals, you maintain your momentum regardless of your pace.
Although you don’t always want to put in the minimum effort, you don’t always have to go all-in. This is how you burn out and lose sight of your goals.
5. Have a Little Faith
It’s hard to stay persistent when you don’t believe in yourself. When pursuing a dream, it’s easy to get discouraged when you start asking a lot of “what if” questions. This is where having faith in yourself is important in staying persistent.
You can never succeed if you don’t try. You’ll always find reasons why you shouldn’t do something. The important part is pushing past that and believing that you can make your hopes come true.
Take-A-Ways
While keeping your dreams alive is important, remember that your goals and aspirations might change as you grow. Sometimes abandoning an outdated dream allows a new dream to grow. What’s important is that we have dreams to give us purpose and help us better ourselves.
