We have all heard “take it one step at a time” or some variation, like “inch by inch, life’s a cinch.” Yet I don’t believe that picture is clear enough when you first hike up your foot to enter the unknown, effectively transforming your routine life into your dream life. For you may see only one step. One. That’s it. You are standing on the only patch of earth and surrounded by air. Bottomless air. For those of you who are acrophobic, like I am, it can be terrifying. Yet, you know what? My fear of heights is lessening. Just another proof that we should face those fears and prove them false.
So how do you plan your dream life, set into action all those goal-setting articles and self-help DVDs you’ve read and listened to? You already know the basic steps to becoming what you know you were born to do—which is anything that lights you up, that has you animated, that you could talk about nonstop, whatever “that” is should be what you do for a career.
For someone wanting to teach at the university level, you know you will need a Master’s degree. To get that you need a Bachelor’s first, and for that you will probably need to graduate high school (or get a GED or credit through home schooling, etc.). For that example, I worked backward and found three milestones. You plan with what you know. You revise as needed, as you go along.
For me, being an author, I can tell you a little more about that career as I am living it. I needed to write at least one book. I needed to sell some of them. But the overall reality is the same. You ask yourself, What should I do now? What one step would get me nearer to living my ultimate career?
If you step out in faith, taking the one and only forward-moving action that you see at that nanosecond, I believe another step will be revealed to you. I love that quote that says, paraphrased here, the teacher/mentor appears when the student is ready. Meaning you made the decision. You WILL go after that dream career. Or the quote that reminds us that the Universe will supply us with all manner of goodies once our foot lands in the unknown. I trust in a God that rewards people who follow their heart's desire, make a decision and forge ahead to make a better world one person at a time, starting with themselves.
So step out there. It is not so scary after all. And the benefits . . . well, they will have you smiling. All day long.
