Pursue Your Dreams!

What ultimately motivates you?

Motivation occurs on different levels. Let me explain…

We all have a drive to survive. We share this with all living organisms. Maslow spoke to this in his famous theory of the hierarchy of needs. He described how humans organize themselves to meet the basic needs first—food and shelter—and when that is realized, we can begin to focus on self-actualization, intellectual and spiritual development.

Most of us work with people who have realized their basic needs, but occasionally we have experienced or worked with people struggling to meet their basic needs. If you can’t make your house payment, it’s hard to focus on self-development. I’m going to assume that you have resolved your basic needs and have time to investigate your dreams or higher-level motivations. Your dreams speak to a deeper level truth, a higher calling. When we as coaches or change agents began to help people realize their dreams, we are doing a different kind of work.

Dreams almost always connect to our deeper mission or purpose. Having a dream implies you are connecting with something really important and meaningful. I would suggest that an inability or unwillingness to follow our dreams leads to a deep soul or heart dissatisfaction. Of course following your dreams allows your soul and heart to feel a deep level of satisfaction.

What actually causes and inspires dreams? I propose that they come from our mission or our greater “why.” Your why is ultimately what creates your passion and drive. Follow your why, and you will lead a more congruent, passionate and fulfilled life. Failure to follow your why or dreams can lead to deep dissatisfaction and even depression. At a minimum it can lead to a vague sense of boredom.

We have many ways to talk about following your dreams. We use the words fulfillment, destiny, the hero’s journey, following your bliss, etc. We also have many people in our lives who are dream stealers, people who tell us “That’s not practical,” or “You won’t be able to make a living doing that.” Why do they do they do this? Because someone stole their dreams.

To follow your dream often requires a leap of faith or requires you to challenge your internal critic, the parts of you who whisper “That’s not practical,” “You can’t make money doing that,” “No one will pay for that,” or similar messages.

So what is a person to do? Well, if they’re smart, they’ll invest in a coach or mentor who can help them follow their dream. And again, that dream often stems from or is influenced by their mission or why.

Do you know your mission, your greater purpose, your why?

It’s important to understand your why. What is it that you believe in? Can you articulate your mission, your purpose, your dream? The clearer I get about my dream and what I believe in, the more it resonates with others. They can more readily identify if it’s a good fit for them and if it’s meant to be.

In writing this I realize that my work really answers my mission—my why—and I know that when people work with me, they often speak about how my passionate support of them has made it possible for them to realize their dreams. No wonder I love what I do!

So if you do not yet know your mission or dream or why, make the commitment to do so. You don’t want to be at the end of your life describing to your loved ones how you failed to go for what was really important, do you?

It takes courage and perseverance and faith to follow your dreams, or you can make a therapist rich talking about your regret of not having gone for what was really important. So I invite you to go for your dream. Take the leap of faith.

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About Terry: Terry Hickey, M.S., is a Certified NLP Professional Coach, Business Trainer and Consultant, a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the co-owner of NLP Advantage Group. Originator of the Belief Breakthrough Method™, Terry specializes in teaching coaches and entrepreneurs how to rapidly resolve limiting beliefs about wealth and success. His tips and strategies can help you launch yourself into the future you want… NOW. http://terryhickey.com/