How You Can Start the Life of Your Dreams, Writer

To Live is to Experience 

Where do you want to go in life? WHY is writing meaningful to you? What is your idea of success? 

If you can’t answer any of these question, it’s time to start finding your answers. Knowing what you want your life to be is important. Otherwise, you will stay where you are, pushed around by people and events happening around you. 

Humans were meant to work, love, and create. If you want to do something meaningful with your life but aren’t moving somewhere, you won’t find the peace that comes with moving toward something until you start. Your life will feel lackluster and small until you change. 

The great news is change is possible for you. If you want it, a life filled with meaningful work and reaching your writing dreams is possible. 

But to move you need a direction to start toward. You need (1) priorities and goals, (2) a plan, and (3) courage to act. 

1. What do you want? 

Before you set goals, you need to figure out what your priorities are.

Your priorities are where your goals come from. This is how you decide what you spend your time and energy doing. Priorities can be many things—work, family, spiritual, helping others, etc. They are what is most important to you in your life.

These priorities will form the WHY—the drive—behind all your goals. 

Now, when you are setting your priorities and goals, don’t think tiny. Don’t think in terms of what is ‘realistic’ or what others would expect of you. Use your imagination. Choose goals you would only imagine could become true in your dreams. 

Why?

Because with the right amount of work and knowledge, your potential is greater than you think. Many writers have potential they never tap into because they think too small, are scared of setting goals too high in case they fail, or simply don’t have a big enough WHY behind their goals. 

You are more capable than you think. Go ahead and write down the goal for your book to be a bestseller. Write down your dream of your book being adapted for film. Why not? When we work towards something big, we often make greater progress than we would reaching for tiny goals even if we fall short.  

Think big. 

Have fun. 

Allow yourself to imagine and see the opportunities around you. 

Set big goals aligned with your priorities, and make them a challenge. Write them down everyday in present tense as if they’ve already happened. Do this to start getting in the mindset of the person you want to be—act like the person who lives by your priorities and accomplishes your goals.  

2. Make a plan 

Great job setting your priorities and goals! 

Your next step is to make a plan on how to achieve them. How much work is it going to take to accomplish your goals? What all will you need to do? 

Make a list of everything you will need to get done and set some sort of timeline to your actions. Without a plan it is too easy to not take action from fear of the unknown or of making mistakes. 

By learning what you’ll need to do to accomplish your goals and making an actionable plan, you will decrease the fear of the unknown that’s keeping you stagnant. 

For the latter fear—the fear of mistakes—realize that mistakes are not bad. Mistakes are how we learn. When doing anything new we will make mistakes, but it is not something to fear. It is part of living. 

Although your plan may seem daunting, if your WHY is big enough, you will get through any obstacle thrown at you to make your goals. 

3. Embrace courage

 You’re all set…now you need to act. You need to find the courage to venture through your fear. 

You will never feel satisfied when you underachieve your potential. Do you want to live stagnantly in a life unaligned with your priorities? 

Action is hard and scary, but it is living. Don’t be satisfied to survive through life…fight to experience life. 

I have lived both ways, and experiencing is so much better. Doing the bare minimum to get by and filling the rest up with entertainment is tempting, but it is never satisfying. 

I’ve had the days and months when I didn’t feel like I had the energy to produce anything…when I barely scraped by on what was necessary to live. I have felt unable to move, and I’ve been scared I wasn’t capable of achieving my dreams. 

But I came through, and I continue to come through. 

The trick is, you can’t wait for motivation to carry you onto producing. Motivation follows production. Action precedes feelings. 

If you wait until you feel like writing before you start typing you will never begin. You must write before you have the words. You must live before you feel ready to take the next step. 

It’s a fight, but once you start moving you will gain momentum, and start experiencing your dreams, reaching your goals, and living your priorities. 

Take the first step

You know what you want to work towards, the steps you need to take, and your need for courage to act. Now, I have two challenges for you: 

1. Do something today that is aligned with your priorities. 

2. Refrain from doing something you normally do that is not aligned with your priorities. 

Do this for yourself. See how it feels, and, believe me, when you start living the life of your dreams it will feel great.  

The greatest part of all of this? 

It is all possible. 

If you want to live an extraordinary life where you spend your time and energy on meaningful work, it is possible for you. People like us are happiest not when we reach our goals (which is great, don’t get me wrong), but when we are constantly working towards something better. 

We are never done with our writing, our stories, or making a difference in the lives of our audience. We thrive off of growing. 

Will you strive to experience life no matter how much courage it will take?

Featured photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash