Learning is a powerful strength you can harness to pursue your dreams. It is in our human nature to learn and grow. Just look at babies who possess innate desire to lift their head, sit up, crawl, walk, run, ride a bike and almost too quickly start driving! When you embrace a life of continuous learning, you open yourself up to incredible possibility. You don't just settle for what you are currently capable of achieving. You realize the power of your potential when you seek learning. In prior weeks, I've shared with you the importance of looking at your environment to identify what may be limiting your growth. You've listened to your heart and identified your dream. Now I am going to talk about learning. Learning what is necessary to get you from where you are today to living the life of your dreams.
Chances are if your dream was easy and you knew how to do it, you would have accomplished it already. If so, then it's time for another dream! If it is a big dream, it likely means that you don't know how to make it happen yet. It is going to take hard work, determination and learning. I recommend starting with taking inventory on the knowledge you already possess that is necessary to make your dream a reality. Next, make a list of the knowledge you currently do not have but need in order to launch. This should be a concise list. It should not be a long, drawn out process that you use as an excuse to procrastinate. If it absolutely will stop you from moving forward, then you know it is a gap. If it is a "would be nice" item to know but not critical, file it for learning at a later date. Now that you have a list of things you need to learn to close the gap, you can begin your learning.
The are many great ways to beginning learning. The good news is there is not a lack of information in our world today. The bad news is there is so much information available that it can be difficult to distinguish what is valuable from what is simply "noise" or distractions that keep you from pursuing your dreams. Find credible sources, people you trust and share your values. Do some research. I emphasize SOME. I am a fan of learning by doing. I like to think of it as experimenting with a readiness to embrace imperfection and mistakes. That is how you learn. Getting over making mistakes may be the hardest aspect. Often times we want to have a perfect picture of exactly what and how we will do something before even trying. An obsession with perfection is your dream's biggest enemy. Don't entertain that thought. Perfection is not welcome here.
One way to keep procrastination and perfection from hindering your dream is to create a plan. A solid plan with concrete goals that include a way to measure progress and hold you accountable to a time
frame. Then, do a couple steps every day to close your knowledge gap and increase your learning. It doesn't matter how small the steps are. Break your goal down into mini-goals. If the mini-goals are too daunting then make mini-goals for your mini-goals. The critical aspect is that you are taking action every day. Keep this in the forefront of your mind. Set a calendar reminder, make it visible with post-it notes on your bathroom mirror, coffee maker, whatever it takes. Track you progress each day taking inventory on what knowledge you have gained. Doing so builds accountability, confidence and accelerates your forward momentum.
Eventually your list of current knowledge will grow and your gap will shrink or change enough to where you can start launching your dream. If you find yourself losing energy throughout this process, it is a good indicator that you may need to go back and look at the previous stages again. Look at your life, the health of your tree. Is there something impeding your growth? You may need to learn how to keep your environment healthy in order for you to grow. You may need to learn how to make your dream more vivid. You may need to learn how to dream even bigger. Whatever you do, be relentless. Should you lose momentum, learn how to regain motivation and keep moving forward.
