Are you craving something new and alive? Ready for an audacious dream this year?
Bold and audacious are fun qualities to play with. It doesn’t have to necessarily be big and bold by society’s definition, though it might be. First and foremost, it just needs to be:
- Outside of your comfort zone
- In alignment with your values and integrity
- Matching the potential in you, your team, and/or your business
- Activating. Even if it’s a little scary, does it energize you, ennervate you, create aliveness?
The message today is permission giving. You get to have a bold, audacious, new dream this year. You don’t have to. But if it’s percolating somewhere in you, then you get to bring it to the surface, honor it, and treat it seriously.
The message today is not about guarantees. I’m not saying that your audacious dream is guaranteed to manifest exactly as you envision it. It might. Sometimes things play out exactly as we envision them, and sometimes they don’t. But I do trust that you’ll embark on an adventure that will give you whatever you need next in your life.
Years ago, I manifested an audacious dream, and it was mildly successful in some ways, but a failure in others. Was it a waste of time and energy? Nope. I’m very grateful I did it. There were some hard lessons and wake-up calls about how I needed to change my approach to work, and I learned a great deal. It galvanized me to create a new path for myself, and I’m not sure the new path would have been as clear had I not done it.
How do you nourish a bold, audacious new dream?
Consider these eight elements that can help bring a new vision into reality.
1. Visioning. Bring your dream clearly into view through intentional visioning. (Here’s an article about Making the Time to Vision.) Visioning enables you to tap into other parts of your brain beyond the intellect. It allows insight and wisdom to bubble up from your subconscious, inner wisdom, etc. It’s also a way to access your other two biological brains: your heart brain and gut brain.
I guide my clients and workshop participants through this in tailored ways, but the basic principle is this: You want to take some time away from your busy mind and “Inner Doer”; get into some expansive thinking, and literally see and feel from deeper parts of yourself.
For most people, I’ve found it’s helpful to be away from the computer and somewhere with a view or someplace peaceful where the nervous system can rest and you can feel more expansive. Most of my clients bring a journal and a pen, and some bring art supplies.
2. Name it and write it down. Once you have the vision, put it into words. Writing down and/or stating the vision out loud is often the first step to making it feel more real.
3. Incubate. Let it rest for a few days or more; sit with it and accept it. If it’s in alignment and it’s true for you, you can have it. We don’t know yet if you will, but if you are receiving this vision, we can trust that there’s something true about it, in whole or in part. Explore starting down this path. Stay open and curious. Let Life show you what’s possible.
4. Work with fear and limiting beliefs as needed. If fear or limiting beliefs arise, treat them intentionally. From justifiable concerns to fear of the unknown, or outdated beliefs from past conditioning and experiences – it’s empowering to work with fear consciously and intentionally, rather than stuffing it down. Many people have a fear of fear, which means that they feel the fear, don’t know what to do with it, and hide from it. Instead, take an intentional approach. Take the time to breathe, step back from the fear or beliefs, witness them, get curious, listen to the concerns, and respond with wisdom and compassion. Work with your coach as needed to help you through it.
5. Create the first next steps. In the book “The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership,” the authors include a formula for change: Change = (Dissatisfaction x Vision) + First Steps. What are the immediate first steps that you can take?
6. Take the first steps. Begin taking those first steps, and usually the first steps lead to the next steps. One of those steps might be to socialize your dream. There’s a period of time when we have to incubate a dream by ourselves, then slowly we share it with one, then two, and then a few others. You may start with a trusted mentor or a loved one first. If you are ready to share it with your team, check out “Communicate Your Vision and Strategy.”
7. Periodic alignment checks and updates. As you take the first set of steps, and then the next, take a moment to step back and calibrate with your vision. Is it all still true for you? Anything you would change or upgrade?
8. Get support or mentorship. Support can come in many forms, including but not limited to colleagues, industry mentors, coaches, and loved ones.
Finally, let the road show you. Sometimes we start on a path to something new, and by the end of the journey, we end up somewhere we never could have imagined. It’s not always about realizing the vision exactly as we saw it; sometimes it’s about letting the vision take us on the journey we were meant to have.
Enjoy the road and good wishes for a fabulous year!
As always, if you know someone who could benefit, please forward this to them!
And finally, if you need more attuned 1:1 support, schedule a session. New clients can start with a 30-min free intro session. I look forward to connecting with you.