It’s Time To Give Up On Chasing Your Dreams

Yep, I said it. Give up already. Chasing your dreams is a waste of time. I promise you, if you follow me through my thought process, you’ll be ready to stop. Let me ask you two questions. How long have you been chasing your dreams? And how far has that gotten you?

If you are like most of us your answers will be: too long, and not far enough.

Chasing your dreams is not the answer. It’s daunting. It wears you down over time, while the dream seems to continue running further and further away. Wouldn’t you rather spend that time on something more productive.

Another Option

How about spending all that time and energy on building your dreams?

You see, I didn’t say give up on your dreams, though that seems to be what most people read. No, I don’t want you to do that at all. In fact, I want more than anything for them to come true. Your dreams are yours to keep. Yours to realize. Yours to make happen. But chasing them, that is not the way to make them a reality.

Think about it for a moment. When you picture yourself chasing something, what do you see? That thing you are running after is always ahead of you. Never is it within reach. It is staying just far enough away that you can never capture it. It’s the ultimate game of cat and mouse.

When you are chasing, you can never rest, or that dream will keep getting further away. You can never step aside to learn something new, to get help, or to try a different strategy. Your dream will just keep running and you will only have more ground to make up when you rejoin the chase.

Time to Build

But when you build. That is a different story.

When you are building your dream, it stays put. It gives you the chance to add on to the work you have already done. When you are building your dream, you can step away to get more tools, or to recruit some help. When you return, your dream is right there where you left it, waiting for you. You can add the next layer of bricks onto the foundation you have built.

You can rest. You can seek help. You can step away to learn what you need to learn in order to take it to the next level. Then, when you are ready to add to it, your dream will be ready. It will be waiting for you. It will not have continued running down the road leaving you out of reach.

Take a moment to picture your dream being built in front of you. Can you see it coming together?

But Wait There’s More

The other difference in building versus chasing is that you can see your progress. If you are chasing something, you cannot take the time to look back. You cannot see you just how far you have come. You don’t dare turn around knowing you would have to slow your pace so much that your dream will get an even bigger lead. Besides you would risk tripping and falling if you did so.

But if you are building your dream, your progress is laid out before you. You can see the growth every step of the way. You can watch it come together. You don’t have to look back, because your baby is growing right before your very eyes.

The way we think, alters our view of every situation. Whether you realize it or not, the way you visualize life has a direct impact on your mood, your productivity, and your outcomes. You cannot achieve the thing that you see as always out of reach. Chasing keeps your dream out of reach.

Shift Your View

This does not mean it needs to stay out of reach. You just need to find a way to see it within your reach. This is where the shift in perspective comes into play. This is where you take the power back. You bring it within reach simply by changing the way you think.

If you change the way you think, you can change the way you see it happening. If you can see it coming together, you have a much better chance of making it happen. No matter what, it just feels better to see it this way.

So, if you do one thing today, shift the way you think about making your dreams come true. Stop chasing. Trade the running shoes for work boots and get to work. See the progress unfold before you as it comes together.

Stop chasing your dreams. Start building your dreams.

Did you know I work with individuals and teams to shift the way they think so they can live a more rewarding life? Check out the free guide to Implementing a Culture of Acceptance in 7 Steps by clicking below.

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Perkins