Why You Must Stop Dreaming and Start Acting

Stop dreaming and start acting? From dreams, came the internet, our mobile phones, computers, electricity, and all mind-blowing inventions one can think of.

Napoleon Hill; the author of the best-selling book said that ‘the first step to every achievement is the desire to achieve it’.

But before there is a desire for any achievement, one must have had afore cognizance of what they want to achieve. And this can only come through visualization and planning (dreaming). Dreaming in this context implies the exertion of mental energy on an ideal through visualization, meditation, and planning.

To stop dreaming is simply stopping the act of wishful thinking, and start setting your life goals, and putting your ideas to work.

One huge difference between the inventors of the models mentioned above and other dreamers is that they knew when to stop dreaming and start acting on their plans and the results visualizations.

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The poem below reflects the need to transmute our dreams to something creative. 

Drifting O’ dreamer,

Slowly to the slough of despond.

Where hunches halt and potentials perish.

Right! Dreams inspire,

but dreaming drains time.

Time needing transmutation to a thing of genius.

So stop dreaming and start acting.

For action makes up for a lost time.

The time given to dreaming,

Turned to tons of gold.

By Paschal, Madueke (2017)

Some Factors that May Hinder Us From Putting Our Dreams Into Action Include:

• Lack of Resources
• Lack of Clarity of Mind
• Laziness
• Poor Time Management
• Impostor Syndrome
• Fear
• The Love of Money

Some Advice on How to Get Past these Challenges

1. Lack of Resources

I don’t want to sound like some of the motivational speakers out there. But there are some truths about human nature that some top mentors in life and growth shared for getting past difficult situations in life. In his book; Think and grow rich, Napoleon shared a real-life story of some men and women who turned their dreams into reality by ordinary stubbornness.

The whole concept is just implying that once there is an unwavering desire to achieve something, then people will be willing to get creative with the little resources they have to actualize their dream.

2. Lack of Clarity of Mind

Some mentors of growth and development say that ideas do not come out fully formed. But that with every new step, things will start getting clearer. Others like Nikola Tesla is believed to have a perfect visualization of any project he wants to embark on even before touching any tool in his laboratory.

The rundown of the whole thing is to split your plan into smaller goals and always have a reason for any new step you want to take. Also, if you have a hobby, it’s way easier to clear your mind and know what direction to take, because thoughts flow naturally from what you really enjoy doing.

3. Laziness

This is a disease that must be caught and thrashed out on time before it becomes a habit. It usually manifests as procrastination. One secret to preventing this is to set a reward for yourself for every milestone you reach.

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4. Poor Time Management

It is very easy to get busy with lots of unnecessary things in life. Social media can help you achieve this without making you feel guilty for the time wasted. A timetable has proven to be one of the most effective ways of time management. It will help you give attention to a lot of things while still working on your dreams.

5. Impostor Syndrome

The only way to get rid of impostor syndrome is to start acting. For every bold move you make, your confidence improves and you keep getting rid of impostor syndrome.

6. Fear

Fear is notoriously known to be the greatest dream killer. This manifests as thinking of what people will say or what people will think of you when you are working hard to achieve your dreams. But hold yourself tightly and keep moving, it gets better with every new step till you reach your goals.

7. The Love of Money

It is not bad to put accumulating wealth in the picture when looking to realize your dreams. But it will be bad if you make it your central purpose. It is usually frustrating especially when you are working for the money and you still don’t see significant results. But if you look at your dreams from the dimension of what you intend to offer the world, even if you miss the money in the results you will not miss the satisfaction of realizing your goals.

Why You Must Stop Dreaming and Start Acting Today

Not giving attention to things that matter such as our dreams, has a way of decreasing the desire for them. Desire is the strong force that keeps us closer to our dreams every day, and if we lose it, we might as well lose the dream. So it is important that we take little steps daily to rekindle our desire to realize our dreams.

Also, there is limited time for us to achieve everything we want to achieve in life. So the earlier we start doing something daily about it, the better the chances we have to achieve them all. We should not care so much about the results we get, the most important thing is that we took that bold step out of our comfort zones against all odds.