What Are You Dreaming Of?

This last week I spent three fantastic days in Edmonton at the Alberta Women Entrepreneurs conference with some dear friends of mine, and a group of about 200 fellow ladies in business.

While there were a number of speakers with differing topics of importance, more than anything else the prevailing message that stood out to me was: Dare to dream – and be tenacious!

Even though we are currently in times of global difficulty, change, and economic stress, that doesn’t mean you should let it rule your outlook.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve caught myself forgetting to dream, in response to the prevailing message that things are tough right now.  Really – who says?  Are they truly any tougher than before?  And is it because of the “economic crisis” that they are tough?

Don’t buy into it…there is no less money or opportunity in the world than there was last summer.  I’ve personally had to take a step back and evaluate my own dreaming of late, or lack there of.   We’ve actually just come through a few years of great success for a growing company, and I’ve transitioned from being a solopreneur to partnering with my husband on a full time basis.  Not to mention, we’ve also grown to include other bright specialists in our business, to bring greater value and key services to our clients.  We’ve relocated our family and the business twice in less than 8 months!  In reality the challenges that we’ve faced have little or nothing to do with the “recession” – they’ve been the natural result of our daring to live our dreams and leap toward what we want without reservation.  We’ve been doing it despite fear!

That we have been able to work together to support ourselves, and move our family to a beautiful little lakeside city where I’m much healthier IS living the dream.  But does acknowledging that you are “living the dream” you had mean you stop dreaming?  In an effort not to forget gratitude, and to be thankful for what we have, I realize that I had mistakenly stopped dreaming…I had unwittingly stopped looking beyond where I am to where I want to be.

Now is the time to refocus your dreams.   If you’ve achieved your dream, grow it, refresh it, reshape it.  Instead of looking only up to the point of staying afloat and covering your needs, look beyond…see what you dream of, write down what you aspire to, and know that if you can dream it you can achieve it.  Despite reality, who says you can’t dream it and bring it to being?

I am a firm believer that you get what you focus on – so what are you focusing on?  If you keep your eyes firmly focused on “making it through”, you’ll do just that.  Is that all you want for yourself, or do you want more?

Whatever your business, wherever you want to go in life, this applies to you.  If you want more, then look beyond – it’s not ungrateful of you, it’s the magical combination of gratitude and your growing and ever-changing dreams that create your reality!