Keep Chasing Your Dreams

If being a coach has taught me anything, it's that chasing after wild and brave possibilities changes our lives for the better...but the chase can make life anything but easy. Personal growth, professional aspirations, and meaningful goals we have for making a positive impact on our world all require us to work hard, pivot with wisdom, and stay in the game when times are tough. Sometimes to keep pursuing the true dream, even our goals need to change or evolve.

So how do we know whether it's time to keep pushing, or to change course? How can we know whether to keep persevering or to be open to change in our goals? The answer takes discernment, which grows through effective reflection. Here are some journaling or reflection prompts to help when the time comes to evaluate an important dream or goal.

Journaling Prompts to Keep Chasing Our Goals:

• What is most meaningful to me about the goal I am pursuing?What is the real dream this goal represents? What about my goal helps me get to my dream? How has my goal possibly gotten off track from my dream, or drifted from its true purpose?
• Who do I most care about serving, helping, or learning from?
  
  Sometimes goal become about doing tasks and the people get pushed to the side. How could I bring the meaning or excitement to other people back into the picture? Who might I partner with or get feedback from? How could I invite the perspective of others to give me affirmation or insights to guide me in moving forward?
• What kind of progress would be most encouraging to me as I chase this goal?How could I increase the odds of seeing even a little more of that progress in the next week or month? What small thing could I do each day? or What single, decisive thing could I try that might make an impact on that progress?
• What task or process involved in chasing my goal do I regularly find stressful or draining?Who do I know who seems particularly skilled, experienced, or inspired to do the thing I find tough? How could I learn from or borrow their process to increase my skill or ease?
• What could put some wind in my sails to buy time while I keep working my current plan?Would a cash infusion, part time income, or expense reduction give time for the plan you have to come to fruition? Set a timer for 45 minutes to brainstorm, research, and explore possibilities. Thinking options all the way through can clarify what might give you the right staying power.
• If I was safe to rethink this goal, what part of it might benefit from a fresh perspective?What part feels most stuck or resistant to progress? Where am I getting conflicting results, or find myself procrastinating the most? Who could I talk to get some fresh perspective on these things?  What changes in my goal might help me get unstuck and start making progress?
• What have I learned in pursuing this goal so far?What have I learned about myself, my strengths, my personality, my passions? What have I learned about my community, family, friends, colleagues, customers? What have I learned about the business or learning project by trying to pursue this goal? How could I use this knowledge even if I didn't continue pursuing this goal?
• If I could talk to myself ten years in the future, what would future me have to say about this goal and these roadblocks?Imagine it is 2033. What would be important about the goal you are pursuing now? What would you see differently then than you do today? What advice would you give your current self?

As with most journaling exercises, success doesn't mean unearthing correct answers; it means heightening awareness and opening up to wild ideas. If you want a thinking buddy to help, feel free to check out my Free Coaching Calendar.

May these reflection prompts help you keep pursuing your goals in a holistic way, reaching for the true dreams inside of the goals, with the freedom to keep growing and changing to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.