What Gets In the Way of Big Dreams

Last night a friend asked me, "so what is it that keeps people from going after their big dreams?"

We were sitting in her minvan, chowing down on McDonald's cheeseburgers and french fries in between sessions at our kids' Back to School night; the energy was fun and casual and my 3 answers came from an unstructured, unplanned place:

1. We think too much and take action too little. We get so far up in our heads to the exclusion of actually DOING something. Our thinking feels so real, so concrete, and so TRUE that we come to rely on our stories more than what we can find out through taking action.

The answers show up when we get out there and create, run experiments, learn and repeat it all over again.

2. We focus too much on the big picture, to the exclusion of the tiny microactions that are available to us right now, in this moment, and which could trigger a flow of unexpected momentum.

Whatever it is that you're dreaming about - no matter how huge and far away it might look - there is a teeny tiny step you could be taking towards it. A phone call, a book, a conversation or bit of research. A word. A step. A question answered. 

Allow yourself to take your gaze OFF of the mountain top and down to the ground right in front of your feet. Take a step.

3. We're not really committed to doing the thing we say we want to do. Once we realize that we COULD be taking a small step towards the thing we want, a lot of us never take it. Not because we can't --- we just choose not to. 

It no longer becomes a How issue but a Commitment issue, which leaves little room for excuses and a deeper reflection on our willingness to get uncomfortable and walk the talk.