Your dreams aren’t going to wait for you, you’re going to have to chase them.
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“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”
-Brian Dyson
I recently left a career in teaching to become a writer. While I currently work as a freelancer, this is not my ultimate goal. I noticed my freelancing gigs taking priority in my schedule and building my own business falling to the wayside. I started gaining weight from my new sedentary lifestyle and isolating myself to get my work done. I found myself feeling anxious because I was nowhere closer to finishing my first book and getting it ready for publication.
I decided that something had to change. I did not leave teaching and start pursuing a dream to have added stress with no progress. I realized that my freelancing jobs would get done anyway. I would never let a deadline go by without delivering a quality product, but why was I willing to sacrifice my dreams, my relationships, and my health? I decided that I wasn’t.
Your Dreams
Think about why you are pursuing the dream of being your own boss. For many of us, a major motivation is to have more time with the people we love.
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It might seem obvious that you need to make time for your long term goals, but dreams can seem so far away. Everything else around us seems more pressing and even urgent. If you are working a day job and building your own business on the side, I’m pretty sure you are a responsible person. You don’t seem like a slacker to me. The errands will get done and the bills will get paid because that’s just who you are. You know what won’t get done unless you prioritize it? Building your business. It cannot be something you do if and when you have time. You need to create space for it. Go ahead and pencil it in even if you can only start with 15 minutes a day. Make this time non-negotiable. It’s the difference between dreams remaining dreams or becoming reality.
Your People
It’s easy to neglect family and friends when our work keeps us busy. It’s even easier when we have understanding and supporting people in our lives. It’s up to us to prioritize the people we love. Think about why you are pursuing the dream of being your own boss. For many of us, a major motivation is to have more time with the people we love. We at least want more flexibility in our schedules so we can be there for important times we’ve missed out on because of work.
If we don’t start prioritizing people now, there will never be time for them. First, it was work. Now, it’s work plus building a business. Then it will be growing a budding business. There will always be excuses not to make time for our loved ones, but our relationships with them need to be tended to daily, just as our businesses do, maybe even more so.
You
This might seem like another one that doesn’t need to be stated, but it does! How many of us put everyone and everything before ourselves? When you’re trying to balance your work and home responsibilities without neglecting the people you love, it can be easy to automatically put yourself at the bottom of the list. What good does that do anyone? You usually end up snapping at the people around you and becoming less effective at everything you’re working on. Everything suffers.
The path to realizing your dreams involves regular care of yourself, your relationships, and your goals.
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Take the time to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. Take time to do whatever rejuvenates you. For me, this looks like a walk in nature and quick meditation breaks. These make an insane difference in my personality and productivity. If you’re not sure what works for you, take the time to find out. If our physical and mental health are not intact, we are useless to all the people we are working so hard to serve.
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I know that your day job and every day to do list can seem like your highest priorities, but those things will get done. The path to realizing your dreams involves regular care of yourself, your relationships, and your goals. Do what you do with all the things that matter most to you: schedule them in today! Your future will thank you!
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Photo: Flickr/William Brawley
Will, thank you so much for your comment! You made my day! I am happy to hear that you are going to start working on your dreams! How exciting!
Thank you so much for this. I definitely needed to hear it. I found this most poignant: “You need to create space for it. Go ahead and pencil it in even if you can only start with 15 minutes a day.” I definitely need to start penciling in at least 15 mins a day to work on my dream; and I will. 🙂