DAY 1 – Building a Dream List

Good Morning All,

Today is the start to Daylight Savings Time and I woke up out of a very sound sleep to this blog (a full series in fact) in my head so I thought I would get it down on paper. Okay, really, I could not go back to sleep without getting it down on paper, does that ever happen to you? Do you ever feel that you “must” do something to move forward? Whew, I thought it might just be me.

Well, here we are you and me together, just talking and sharing. Yes, I feel that you are with me as I write because I want to write what I would say to you if you were here in person watching the sunrise and having a cup of coffee together in these Sunday Sunrise blogs. I want to hear from you as well because once again, this IS about YOU. I need to hear what worked, what was confusing, what was hard and what was fun. I need to know what you need more help in achieving and how I can help. Let’s get started planning our DREAM LIST together.

SO, LET’S TALK ABOUT YOU!
I hear time and time again about how stressful things are and how tired people can be, and I totally appreciate that myself. Let’s review what is really happening in our world today that might add to that stress and exhaustion. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days per week, 365 days per year we have…see if any of these sound like things that might stress you.

• Social media exposure, TONS of social media exposure, leads to comparison city
  o Perfect pictures, perfect lives, perfect families and friends all doing great things
  o People achieving unbelievable and fun things and we are having a hard time just getting our laundry done
  o Toned bodies, perfect food, and 5 am workouts, healthy habits, and more
• News feeds ALL THE TIME, even at the gas pump, airport and 7/11 stores, come on for real!
• Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and many, many more with binge-worthy content (Some not so much, but we still need to watch just one more episode, we all do it even if we regret it 12 hours later 😊)
• Arguing, fighting, doom and gloom talk (You can find it anytime if you want, I call it the chicken little syndrome.)
• Video games  -same as the on-demand channels, we just need to get to one more level and then we can eat, sleep, feed the kids. (Some are violent, aggressive and even adrenaline driven, just adding to stress and anxiety to keep you excited and addicted)
• Devices, TVs, and computers in every corner of our lives (even in our cars now)
• NOISE, NOISE and MORE NOISE

Well, did that make you want to cringe a little? It did me so much that I had to get up from my sleep and talk to you, really talk to you!

Friend, none of that is REAL! There are real things hidden in there for sure, but most of what we see, hear and experience is just not real. BTW, none of that is who or what WE are! If you want to lose a great deal of the stress and comparison in your life and gain some happiness and peace it is rather simple to say no to the list above. However, it is getting much harder to do, thanks to the addictive marketing practices (they are not totally to blame, we do have free will, so they say) we face every day. It takes a real plan to remove the damaging and keep the good and fun items in our lives. But, we DO need to stop and review all those items to see what is what and what we need and want.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                But here we go, we can do this together.

WHAT TO LET GO OF

• Stop comparing yourself to ANYONE!
• Stop being fed a steady diet of perfection is the goal
• Stop eating bad, sleeping bad and not taking care of yourself
• Stop Listening to negative, mean or argumentative speech
• Stop following the FAKE, filter-perfected people
• Stop trying to walk in someone else’s shoes
• Stop pining for someone else’s life, and regretting yours
• Stop watching, listening and reading things that do not add quality to your life
• Stop fixating on the Negative
• Stop thinking you need to be this or that, do this or that because someone else is doing it…they are NOT YOU!

BUILDING A DREAM LIST

So, if the list above (I could go on for days, but that would just be MORE stress on all of us, my hands are already sweating so enough is enough) tells us what not to do, so what do we do?

We FOCUS! (This is my word of the year, and I hope it becomes yours as well.)

First off, we need to take stock of where and what you are right now!

I am certain you have some wonderful qualities, great practices, and healthy ambitions. They may be a bit buried under other people’s goals, but you are in there I promise. Grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Let’s start simple, put three sections on the front and three sections on the back of your paper, and title each one the six items below and start writing. It does not need to be pretty or even organized we will FOCUS on that later. Let’s just take a 10,000-foot view first, no details, no weeds.

1. Evaluate where you are, what you have, and what is working…list all the good things in your life (not compared to someone else).
2. Determine what you want in your life such as meaningful interactions with; family, friends, good experiences, a good job, etc.
3. If you want to be healthier, make a list of how you can improve. (Example: what you eat, how you sleep and maybe how you can move more. No details, just the high-level view here).
4. List where you want to go with your life, and when you want to get there. (put some dates, months or years if needed to the BIG things you want to achieve).
5. Determine what your time and talents are worth and WHY you think you want to do this.
6. Determine what is getting in the way, just write all the things that come to mind, no need to be tidy here.

If this all moved a bit too fast for you, no worries we will break all six sections apart and build a plan for each. Just do your best and try and capture something in each section of the six points to your DREAM LIST. We will refine it as we go and build out an incredible plan for YOUR LIFE.

I hope to see you next Sunday for the next blog on how to manage your time (not schedule your time), and be sure and bring your DREAM LIST with you each Sunday so we can keep your DREAMS alive in all we do together.

• Thank you for taking the time and effort to read this today and I would LOVE to hear from you about your progress and help in any way. Until next week, I hope you have a wonderful time building your DREAM LIST. I can’t wait to see and hear about them.

I hope you have a great week. Happy Sunday, Shelley

Upcoming Topics

• PLANNING YOUR PATH TO REACH YOUR DREAMS
• FINDING YOUR TALENTS AND INTERESTS
• DETERMINE WHAT IS IMPORTANT AND WHY
• DETERMINE WHAT IS GETTING IN THE WAY AND HOW TO STOP IT
• DETAILED STEPS TO ACHIEVE THE IMPORTANT ITEMS ON YOUR DREAM LIST
• FINDING YOUR MOTIVATION TO MAKE YOUR DREAM LIST A PRIORITY
• ACHIEVING YOUR DREAM LIST