“Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming – well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate. Isn’t that true?” ― Amy Tan
I’m a huge advocate of having big dreams! I dream often and I dream as large as I possibly can. I write out goals for the year, five years, ten years, etc. I believe that if you don’t dream big, you won’t achieve big!Below is a list of seven mistakes I believe will crush your dreams if you aren’t careful!1.) Don’t Write Down Your DreamsOne of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to achieve your dreams is not writing them down!Just the simple act of writing down your goals/dreams increases your chances of success in achieving them by 50%!The sad part is, only about 3 out of every 100 people actually take the time to write down their dreams, yet those that do end up making about 10 times the amount of money as those that don’t according to a Harvard study.Goal or Dream writing forces you to fully articulate what you want to achieve and helps keep you on track by giving you a reference point to fall back on when you start to question if what you are doing is helping to pave your path towards achieving your dreams or not.2.) Waiting for HelpThe second biggest mistake in my opinion is waiting for someone else to help you achieve your dreams. You must realize that if you truly want to reach your dreams there is only one person in this world who will ensure that happens.YOU!!!Sure, along the way there will be people that do in fact help you, teach you, motivate you, but there will also be plenty of times when those people won’t be there!If you truly want to achieve your dreams you must understand that you are the only person that can change where you are currently in life. You are the only person that can motivate yourself when you don’t feel like it. You are the only person that can ultimately achieve your dreams!3.) Not Accepting That It’s a ProcessForming new habits takes time. It’s not always easy! Another mistake people seem to make after writing down their dreams is then trying to change 20 different habits at once.Is it possible to form 20 good habits all at once? Probably, but I’ve never been able to do so.I find it much easier to focus on two or three habits at a time, get them cemented in then move on to the next ones. Just because you have 20 dreams written down, doesn’t mean you have to accomplish all of them tomorrow.I promise you, once you get started on forming a couple new habits and those become easier, others will quickly follow and before you know it, you’ve formed 20 good habits in replace of bad ones.4.) Neglecting Your BodyTaking care of your body is another important part of reaching your dreams. Treat your body like a temple and make sure to get in plenty of exercise and eat right.Chasing dreams isn’t easy, mentally or physically. You’ll need stamina, energy and nourishment.Eating right, exercising and taking care of your soul (I suggest meditation) will help you stay prepared physically and mentally while chasing your dreams.5.) Let Failure Hold You BackListen, let’s be real for a minute. You WILL fail! It’s inevitable! Don’t let it stop you!Learn from your failures and move on. If you accept that failure will happen it becomes easier to deal with when it does.If you aren’t failing you probably aren’t chasing big enough dreams in my opinion.There will be people that will judge you for your failures, you’ll judge yourself for your failures, but keep pushing on anyways.If you make a mistake learn from it, commit to not allowing it to happen again, then move on!6.) Being Afraid – Fear!You can’t make mistakes and learn from them if you have so much fear you don’t even get started. Too many times we let emotions, especially fear dictate our lives.Emotions, including fear, are simply that. In fact, I’d say most of the time, our emotions are false. We are hardwired to assume the worse to try to protect ourselves from getting hurt physically, mentally and emotionally.Don’t be afraid to dream as big as you possibly can and then chase those dreams with all the passion you can, the worst that happens is you only make it part of the way there, however, I’d argue that it would be a better place than when you started!7.) ContentmentThe last thing I’d like to point out segways from the last statement of the sixth point. You may have the biggest dreams in the world and may never reach them.You may fight tooth and nail to achieve them your entire life and fall short.Don’t let this stop you. As I said earlier, it’s a process.You may never fully reach your dreams, however, I promise that if you start you’ll at the very least reach some of them. You’ll be better off then when you started.Be content with where you are at all times. Understand that life is hard, grueling and tiring, but also beautiful, exhilarating and precious. Enjoy it, cherish it and be thankful of where you’ve made it so far. If you never fully reach every dream you set out to conquer, accept that and be grateful for what you have conquered.Some people never even get started!