I start most of my coaching relationships the same way. I ask my new client to tell me all about their dreams.
What keeps you up at night?
What idea is the one that you just can't stop talking about?
If you could do or be anything, what would it look like?
Paint a picture of the world you want to live in in a year or ten, and tell me all the wild things that you want to be true.
Usually, they laugh a little while they share. Sometimes they joke, saying they know it sounds crazy but they remind me I told them nothing was off the table. Sometimes even my most extroverted and charismatic clients seem a little shy or even sheepish as they say, "I mean I really want this but..."
The "but" is just as important as their answer, and I don't even have to ask for that part.
"But I'm a stay at home mom."
"But I've never gone to college."
"But I don't think anyone would read my blog."
Without experience, education, connections, or anything else someone might deem necessary for their dream, the distance between dream and reality seems massive. There is no possible way to do it when looking at this massive thing, so many of us stop trying. We stay put. We keep the dream, tucked in our back pocket to look at as if it were a postcard to a place we think we will never make it to.
Here's the secret to making the dream a reality: taking a teeny, tiny step.
With my vacation metaphor, we all know we don't just dream about a trip to a remote island and magically show up there the next day.
We have to save our money, keep an eye on flights, book a babysitter, board our dog, physically get ourselves to the airport and get on the plane.
Even thinking about buying a plane ticket can be overwhelming in the beginning. "How impossible," we might start to think, because our wallets are empty and we don't have any vacation time to use this year.
The secret is taking even smaller steps.
Maybe the smallest step possible––maybe even just taking the postcard out of our pocket and putting it on the wall. Telling a friend, "this postcard is on my wall because some day I'm going to go there, and today I'm starting to believe it by telling you!"
Then take the next step, and the next. At some point, you'll be boarding the plane thinking, "isn't it wild that there was a time when this was just a postcard I kept hidden?"
That's it, that's the secret.
Take a small step today. If the small step feels overwhelming, it's too big. Think even smaller. Then take another small step tomorrow. Soon, the gap is closing. Until one day when the gap is gone.