I believe everybody has big dreams, big goals. The power of those dreams can move us forward and keep us from that mediocre life, though for the majority of folks the dream remains a dream. It’s too big to handle, to intimidating to tackle, to much to really make real.

Who are you to think you can dream so big?

But those big dreams are what not only change the world but what keep the world turning. Somebody has to do the big stuff; you’re as qualified as anyone to make your own dream real. And doing so, well, it’s not complicated no matter how big your dream is. The key is simply translating your big dream into a big goal (or two or three) and then achieving those goals.

See how easy that is?

For those of us audacious enough to translate the dreams into real goals, and then try to reach them, we find ourselves tripping over common obstacles.

• lack of time
• lack of resources
• lack of knowledge
• lack of connections

But the most common obstacle, the one most of us trip over on our way to any goal (even the itty bitty ones) is simple

lack of action.

We trip over this one because, generally, we try to achieve too much toward our goals at one time. We try to tackle them all. We try to climb the mountain on Day 1, and when we can’t make it all the way to the top in 24 hours, we decide the mountain’s too high and our legs are too short. So we quit and go back to the bottom and pretend it’s good enough.

Really. We like it down here. It’s nice. It’s level, safe, predictable, familiar.

Instead of giving you some advice that you already know – act, if you want to achieve – I’m going to just spin it a bit. You know this, too, already.

Act, but act toward achieving a small part of your big goal.
Act, but give yourself realistic mini-goals so you can actually make progress.
Act, and don’t stop acting even if you mess up.

You write your chapter the first week and not the second. So do you stop, or do you dive back in on week three?
Answer: dive back in.

You apply for five great jobs the first week, then you don’t hear back. So do you stop, or do you polish your resume and send in more applications?
Answer: polish, send!

Mountains are tough to climb. It will take time. But you can cover one foot of ground each day and make progress. The peak gets closer. Keep moving toward it.