Personal Discovery – Future Aspirations Part 2

Goals are very important but even more important is to have dreams. Dreams are different from goals in that dreams don’t have to be as practical though they should still be SMART. It doesn’t even have to be what path we want our life to be on. They can be interesting side-trips or things that you’ve always wanted to do for no other reason that you want to do them. They can be large dreams that really do engulf our life and determine our path or they can be tiny dreams that whisper every so often in our hearts. Whatever dream they may be, it is important to take that risk. Even though it may not be essential to pursue our dreams and still be able to accomplish our goals, it is our dreams that bring new dimensions to our lives, making them multi-faceted and interesting.

“All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

The term “bucket list” has come up a lot recently. It basically is a list of things you want to accomplish before you “kick the bucket”, or die. Now, dying is a rather vague notion. We could die anytime. We could die tomorrow or we could die 100 years from now and we generally don’t have much of an idea of exactly when it’ll happen. A lot of people who make bucket lists don’t actually do much with them. They feel that they have a while to go before they die so they have time to put it off. So, in order to not procrastinate further, here is a proposal to tweak the bucket list concept:

Activity:

Make a list of 25 things that you want do in the next 25 years. They don’t have to be big things or life-altering things. They can just be things that you’ve always dreamed of doing or thought it’d be really fun to accomplish. Choose one to do this year. If you don’t know where to start, just as you did for your goals, make them SMART and break them up over and over until you have a lot of little baby steps.

Some of you may be wondering, well what if I don’t have 25 years to live? What if I die tomorrow? It doesn’t matter. The fact that you are working towards something that you really want to do is enough. And, if you accomplish everything in less than 25 years, even better! If you live longer than 25 years, make a new list or even just add new dreams whenever it strikes your mood. Just keep reaching towards what you dream of. It’s in the act of reaching further and stretching our own capabilities that is the important process here. When you know you can accomplish what you put your mind towards, it will impart more confidence that we can accomplish even more.