Follow Your Dreams 4 Ways to Meet Your Goals (While Staying Practical

Follow Your Dreams 4 Ways to Meet Your Goals (While Staying Practical When you were a kid, you probably had plenty of ideas about what you wanted to do when you grew up. Perhaps you dreamed of being an actress, singer, or zoo keeper. Maybe you thought youd be a Disney princess, or, simply, famous.Now that youre older, your goals may have changed. Perhaps you realized being on the stage didnt match your skill platzdeckchen. Maybe being a Disney princess doesnt seem as glamorous as it once did.Passions and interests can change a lot from childhood to adulthood and throughout life. And of course, some ideas you have as a child just arent practical later on. Still, you should be doing something that makes you happy now.If you hate your career, every day can feel like a slog. It might be hard to get out of bed in the morning. You could be spending all day watching time tick away. It doesnt have to be like this.Follow your dreams might seem like a fools errand. When your dream is far from the reality youre living, it can feel out of reach. But you should be doing something you love. Its a clich, but life is too short to spend it doing something you hate.You can do work you love. It takes courage and hard work, but it will be worth it when you realize your passion.But how do you follow your dreams while staying practical and realistic?Find joy in what youre currently doingNobody loves what they do all the time. Jobs can be stressful sometimes and boring other times. But finding joy in the moments in betweenwhen you really enjoy what youre doingwill help direct to a career that fulfills you most of the time.Even if you dont love your current job, think about the moments you do enjoy. Its unlikely that you hate everything about it. Something led you there. What welches it? Identifying the moments that bring you comfort will allow you to understand where your passion really lies and pursue a talent and passion that brings you those moments mora frequently.If youre just s tarting out in your career, keep in mind that many people need to start at the bottom, which may involve grunt work. Understand this before you dismiss a career about which you dont feel immediately passionate. It could be that you need to put in your due before the work gets more exciting. That doesnt mean you should settle for a Devil Wears Prada situation if you really, really hate what every moment of your job, you should probably find something new. However, you should give something a little time before you dismiss it completely.Take incremental stepsThink big, but start small. You cant expect to find complete success overnight. If you take big leaps, such as impulsively quitting your job without a plan or backup, youre bound to be disappointed.Start by setting small, achievable goals for yourself. If youre applying for jobs in a new career, it might be fully revising your resume one day, creating a standard cover letter the next, and so on. Once youve achieved smaller goals, youll recognize that you can do it, and its only a matter of time until youre able to conquer your big-picture goal and achieve the success you want.Focus on one idea at a timeYou may have a lot of big ideas. Right now, you want to do it all. Perhaps you want to start your own company and write a book.Take it one step at a time. If you try to do everything at once, youre not going to get very far with any of your goals. Fulfilling your ambitions can take time and hard work. If youre trying to fulfill them all at once, youre only going to set yourself up for failure.Instead of trying to tackle everything on your bucket list right now, focus on one idea at a time. Once youve met your initial goal, you can proceed to the next one. Youll probably still need to nurture your initial passion, since theres rarely a finish line for big ideasfor instance, youll still need to cultivate and grow your new business, if youre an entrepreneurbut youll be able to devote more time and care to your in dividual pursuits.Never say its too lateJulia Child didnt learn to cook until she was nearly 40. Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 years old when Little House in the Big Woods was published. She had spent more than 20 years revising it and received numerous rejection letters along the way. Vera Wang started designer wedding dresses at 40 after stints as a figure skater and Vogue editor.Success isnt limited to your 20s. In fact, few people become wildly successful when theyre very young.That doesnt mean you cant start working on your goals when youre in your 20s. But it does mean you shouldnt ever feel like youve missed out if youre older. Its never too late to start doing something you loveor loving something youre doing.