HOW TO REALISE YOUR WILDEST DREAMS
Author: Craig Lock

HOW TO MAKE YOUR WILDEST DREAMS A REALITY ( AND STILL STAY A LITTLE BIT SANE)#

#* enough "s's"

By Craig Lock

"Life is about finding, then following the dream... and one's dream/vision comes to reality through believing in yourself, making the commitment and then creating it."
- Craig Lock

http://www.craiglock.com
and
http://www.elkpublications.com/godzone.htm

=========================================

According to Bill Gates there are 3 keys to success in any new venture: 1) Being in the right place at the right time. (You could well be already there!)

2) Have a vision of where the industry/business you're working in is going!

3) Taking Massive and Immediate Action! (It is time to act!) "The future belongs to those who believe in the quality of their dreams." Was it Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the famous German poet and philosopher who said those wise words? Here are my 15 steps to fulfilling my wildest dreams...

1. KNOW YOURSELF. Know and accept your weaknesses and faults (we all have them), but even more so your strengths, abilities and gifts. Build on your strengths and try to minimize or improve on your weaknesses. An honest, objective analysis of yourself is the first step in preparing you for success and realizing your dreams. Celebrate you for just being you, a unique creation.Aim for mental clarity about what you most want out of life. Think about it and write it down. If it's happiness, what do you mean by happiness: a sense of belonging, recognition, independence, love, money or security? If you don't know where you are and where you want to go with your life, how will you ever get there? Aim at nothing and you're sure to hit it.

2. GET PASSIONATE Don't apologize for getting passionate. What excites you the most? If you are not enthusiastic and excited about what you're doing, your path in life, you'll never get others to share your dream. Once you find your passion, you will have found your POWER, MEANING and PURPOSE in life.

3. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PASSION Always be aware. Negative people will poison your dream faster than anything else. Motto: "If you can't be positive, shut up!" Try and stay positive...even in the face of negativity.

4. ACCEPT FROM THE START THAT YOU WON'T PLEASE EVERYONE You're going to be misunderstood, misquoted, hurt some feelings, perhaps even lose some friends (for the time being). Motto: "What other people think of me is none of my business!" Repeat this statement to yourself, especially when you doubt or feel discouraged.

5. ALWAYS BE YOURSELF To thine own self be true. (Shakespeare's "Hamlet", act I.3) This is supremely important, no matter what the world may think of you. The masses are conditioned to mediocrity and other people's success can make them not feel inferior for their own insignificant little lives Accept yourself. Learn from others -- but don't be intimidated by them, or pretend to be someone you're not; because... "We are most effective when we're being ourselves."

6. DON'T BE SCARED OF MAKING MISTAKES The only real mistake is one from which you learn nothing. Motto: "Far better to try something and fail, than try nothing and succeed!"

7. ACCEPT THAT IT WILL NEVER BE EASY Realizing your dream may be the hardest, most uphill thing you'll ever do. A truth ... "You can't coast uphill." The key ingredient in success is never giving up. Keep on keeping is 99% made up of failures" (remember Edison's persistence!).

8. STAY HUMBLE (no matter how successful you may be.) Don't ever think you've made it and arrived - there's always a lot ahead, more to do, higher mountains to climb. Motto: "The greatest way to do our thing has yet to be discovered!"

9. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF There is incredible power in yourself (in the form of the unique human mind), but far more so in the forces of God, the Universe. Make them work for you by living your life in harmony with these natural forces. Like positive energy attracts like. Enough "spiritual" thoughts! Back to the "real world" and you. Avoid developing an inferiority complex (Who am I, a 'nothing'?"). Don't be filled with feelings of self pity ("nobody likes me"), or think "I can't do it". These negative thoughts will steal your dream away from you.

10. HAVE FUN Nothing is ever as bad as it seems - don't get too solemn, or serious or too downcast when things go wrong (as they surely will from time to time- Murphy's Law!). Take a leaf from Thomas Edison's book: "I never did a day's work Laugh at life's funny moments...and there are plenty of them. "The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does." -J.M. Barrie

11. DEVELOP 'THE WILL TO LIVE' There will be plenty of times when you'll face the death of your dream. When failures, disappointments, and criticisms come you need the will and faith to keep going. Remember: We learn far more from our failures than our successes, because failures show us what doesn't work. So, failure is just one step closer to ultimate success. Often the difference between failure and success is trying just one more time, picking yourself up off the canvas after being knocked down time and again.

12. DEVELOP 'THE WILL TO HELP AND SERVE OTHERS'. Success on its own (i.e., for its own sake) will pollute and corrupt you - it's a dead end street unless you have meaning in your life. The years of struggle breed fortitude and character. The gold may be an inch away from the seam, where your fellow miners have given up. You need to succeed for a reason, a purpose, a cause that's bigger than you! and IF (a very big if) you've fulfilled all the above requirements...

13. ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES. They are all around you. There are no permanent problems-- only solutions, possibilities and opportunities. The Chinese word for 'crisis' means 'danger' + 'opportunity'.

14. If you truly believe in what you are doing, DEVELOP THE 'WILL TO SUCCEED' with absolute commitment. It is not enough to just survive, aim at being the best you can possibly be! Keep your dream big, bold and even outrageous--don't water it down or settle for mediocrity... even if others think you are crazy! Trust in your judgment, your intuition and your creative mind to overcome any obstacles. "Be bold and mighty, unseen forces come to your aid."I love that quotation.

15. ACT AS IF IT WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO FAIL I've been living that for years. "Foolish fellow!"

N.B:

16. REALLY BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO IT - IN ABSOLUTE FAITH. This is the hardest obstacle for most people to conquer, including this writer.

and finally...

17. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM! Be PATIENT. Don't be in too much of a hurry to achieve your goals and dreams, because it may take you far longer than you think. As the saying goes, 'Winners never quit and quitters never win.'Always remember, when you think you've exhausted all your possibilities, you really haven't--there's always another way, a better way...and even more importantly, there's always another day!

Be persistent and never quit. WITH ENOUGH FAITH AND PERSISTENCE YOU WILL GET THERE IN THE END.

Life is not a dress rehearsal, it's the main event. GO FOR THAT DREAM.

It is within you and within your reach, if you JUST TAKE FIRST STEP.

Good Luck

Craig Lock

P.S: As the "ancient Chinese philosopher" said so wisely...

"The journey of a thousand miles starts with a ... flat tyre and a broken fan-belt."

"If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded and has a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know."
-- Thomas Wolfe

"The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it."
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."

"Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
-- Erica Jong

'Without legends, dreams die.

When dreams die, there is no opportunity for greatness. Greatness is a measure in one's spirit, not in the results of one's rank in human affairs."

To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed.
- Bernard Edmonds, American Writer

---------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Writing Course
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html

The various books* that I "felt inspired to write" are available at:
http://www.novelty-gift.com/
and
http://www.bridgeniche.com/CLOCK/zaniestbooks.htm

* Hard copies and e-books: Fiction and non-fiction, novels on South Africa, travel, humour, inspiration, self help and money books

All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children - MINE!








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craig Lock has written extensively in the field of self help. This extract is from his first published book HANDBOOK TO SURVIVE - a collection of writings on various subjects to help every man or woman survive in a rapidly changing, uncertain world. This book is available from:
http://www.novelty-gift.com/
Creative Writing Course
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html
The various books* that I "felt inspired to write" are available at:
http://www.novelty-gift.com/
and
http://www.bridgeniche.com/CLOCK/zaniestbooks.htm (Free chapters)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------