Over 20 years ago, when I was in college I created a bucket list. At the very top of that list I wrote down the words: I want to become a recording artist. — And I have to be honest, when I wrote it, I thought that goal was nearly impossible for me to achieve. I could crank out a good Rolling Stones cover on my guitar and could rock the house at parties, but didn’t have the first clue about how to write a song, let alone one that might eventually make it on the radio…but I wrote it down anyway, because I decided to believe some crazy guy I’d heard at a seminar shouting about how you HAVE TO create a bucket list and fill it with grand visions, and how people that write their goals down achieve them 97% of the time.

As the years rolled by, I was able to knock a number of dreams off the list, but that one dream I really wanted – my crazy recording artist dream remained an impossible enigma. Until one day, about 7 years ago, when I finally realized something about myself:

The reason I kept putting off my #1 dream was I had been carrying around some major self-limiting beliefs in regards to my ability to pull it off including:

• You aren’t talented enough
• It will fail eventually so why try?
• They’ll find you are a fraud eventually
• You don’t deserve it.
• You really don’t want that anyway

And in that moment of self-awareness, a strange thing happened: the part of me that believed I could do it – that part of me that wrote the dream down in the first place – finally won over and I made the decision to take the first step by producing one of my songs: Stay. 

Since that point, 50 songs, two albums and a website later, I have learned that what seems so scary and ”impossible,” really isn’t so. The key is to just take the first step and never stop taking those steps, ever, and to realize – if you have been putting off one of your dreams or are trying to forget you even had one! – Then there is a good chance you might be carrying around some false self-limiting beliefs and programming too.

So take a little time to look inside and see what’s going on in your head. Why have you put off your dream? Why has your dream stalled? Instead of listening to the surface excuses, get quiet and listen deeper to the self limiting beliefs that might reside within you…and bring those to the surface. Think about your dream, then try my self-limiting beliefs above on for size and see how they fit. Painful, isn’t it?

I empathize: achieving your dreams is not easy, but guess what: You can start. You can start right now manifesting your crazy dream, today. There is still nothing stopping you and so I’m going to encourage you right now to take the first step towards your “impossible” dream, and never stop taking those steps, ever.

That’s the decision I made, and today I am accomplishing things I never thought possible all because I finally made the decision to step outside my comfort zone and take action!

So! If you’re sick and tired of putting your dream off, here’s some heart-felt advice:

• #1 – Take action. You may stumble. You may fall, you might even go backwards, but keep going. You will learn along the way and eventually succeed.
• To avoid getting overwhelmed, break down your “to do” list into extremely small tasks, and be sure to pat yourself on the back for every single task you complete. Don’t expect anyone else to pat you on the back. If they do great, but do not let this impact how you feel one way or the other. Your emotions are determined by how you think about what you are doing.
• Ideally (but not totally necessary) find a mentor who has successfully done it before. It will make your journey smoother.
• Create or revamp a bucket list and fill it with GRAND visions and dreams.
• Wake up every day and make some progress towards your dream every day.
• Make “do it now” your mantra. Do not put off for tomorrow what can be done right now.
• Surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams, and people who are doing the same in their life.
• Realize: success is a marathon not a sprint.
• To get your internal game where it needs to be, create positive mantras, write them down, make them your screen saver and paste them on your bathroom mirror. Don’t know what to write? Try these on for size:
  – I deserve it and am destined to achieve greatness as long as I put the work in.
  – I am an unstoppable force for good.
  – The only failure is giving up.
  – The joy is in the journey.

I sincerely hope you take the first step now towards your dream. You will not regret it, I promise, and know this: when you take steps towards your dream and your higher-self, you are doing a great service to the world and everyone around you, because guess what? Everyone has fear and self-doubt about achieving their grandest desires, so when you move towards your crazy-dream, you show others by example that their crazy-dream is possible to achieve as well.

To the greatness within,

Chris Chickering

This story wouldn’t be complete without a special gift and kick-starter. It’s a music video of a song that’s perfectly created for the dreamer in you called The Crazy Crazy Ones. It features 53 people who had the courage to follow their dream and changed the world in the process. The music video starts 90 seconds after the introduction. Click here to see it now.