Every January, billions of people set big goals with high hopes of making their dreams come true. That’s what New Year’s resolutions are all about and a lot of folks are skeptical of them. They think, what’s the point of doing all that when you’re probably not going to follow through? Not me! I believe if you want your dreams to come true, the only way forward is to set big goals and have high hopes.
Dreaming by itself only takes you so far. Without goals, you can’t take effective steps to achieve what you’re dreaming of. Without hope, there’s no point to taking action. Without action, you’re sleeping.
That’s a lot of what I do with writers who want to get published. I encourage them to dream up the best possible outcomes for their projects; not what they think is the “most realistic” or “most likely“ outcome, but THE DREAM outcome. Then, together, we figure out what steps they need to take to achieve that dream.
Most writers set expectations far lower than what they hope for and pick goals that are far below their dreams. They have a great book or personal essay idea but don’t think it could ever get published. They have tons of unique experiences, knowledge, or skills that thousands of readers could benefit from but never consider writing it for a magazine or website, because…who would publish it?
Why not? Why don’t people go for the top? Because they don’t want to be disappointed or embarrassed if they don’t hit the high mark. Because they’re convinced that getting published is only for the rare genius and certainly not for regular, normal people like them. Because they think they’re not a good enough writer or their ideas aren’t worthy. Because they don’t know how to get what’s in their head out on paper. They have no faith that theirs is an achievable goal and therefore, no hope. And without hope, why even try?
That’s why so many great books, essays, stories, and articles never get written. They’re dead on arrival before they’re ever begun. But what if, instead of having “realistic goals,” we decided to go for the dream! The Big Dream! What if we had a little faith in ourselves and hope for the future and just went for it? What if we quit worrying about the risks of disappointment or rejection and instead, invested in trying real hard? There’s no guarantee we’ll achieve “the big dream” but if we don’t try, we guarantee that we won’t.
When I have a writer with a good story idea, some basic skills, and a little hope, I ask them what, in their wildest dreams, they would like to see happen. If they say, “Oh nothing really. I just thought I’d write it down,” then my response is likely to be: “No really…your wildest dream!” When they finally allow themselves permission, their wildest dream is something like, “I’d love to write a great book, get it published by a big publisher and have it made into a blockbuster movie! I’d like to go on a worldwide book tour and speak on stages with other great writers.” And then I say, “Yahoo! Let’s go for it!” And on the wings of that dream, with hope for a big future, they commit to working toward their goal. We reverse engineer a plan, break it into smaller goals and take baby steps and big strides forward.
Like, I said…there are no guarantees that their wildest dreams will come true, but it might. It often does! And I’ve never had a writer regret that they persevered and wrote their story. Not one. In the process, they learn, create, craft, mold, polish and write something that didn’t exist before. They discover that in the process of working towards a dream, they are fully awake and attuned to their own voice. That’s what dreams are for. They’re for motivating and inspiring people to reach, stretch, and step towards creation.
Happy New Year writers. Here’s to the biggest dreams, audacious goals, and high, high hopes.
