Dreams without action are useless

Whose name comes to mind when I say "Dreamer?" Chances are you know people who spend much of their time dreaming about things they want to do or things that need to be changed, but they never take any action to do either. I have worked with a number of churches to help them identify a new vision for ministry, but many of them never did anything after they developed their vision statement. It went into a folder on someone's computer and was never heard from again. What a waste of energy and effort!

Visions and dreams are important. They help give an organization or individual focus. It keeps them future-oriented, but only if they actually take action on the dream. Navel-gazers seldom accomplish much. At some point, action has to be taken or the dreaming is just an exercise in futility.

The first step in seeing your dreams become reality is to identify the steps you have to take to achieve them. For instance, let's say your dream is become the top salesperson in your company. What are the steps you have to take to achieve that dream?

First, you need to know how much in sales the current top salesperson does annually. If you are going to be the top salesperson you need to know the figure you have to meet to achieve that.

Second, you need to know the ratio between sales calls and actual sales and the average sales per customer. For instance, if your company averages a sale for every five sales calls and the average sale is $1,000.00 then you know that you need to make five calls to sell $1,000.00 of your product or service. How many of those $1K sales do you need to be the top salesperson? Take that number and multiply it times 5, and that's how many sales calls you need to make.

You also want to consider how you might improve that $1,000.00 average sale. What if you could increase your average to $1,500.00? If so, fewer calls will accomplish your goal, or if you keep the same number of sales calls but increase the average sale, you will really be the top salesperson. What added benefits or upsales will help you increase your average? Identify those and you are well on your way to achieving your dream.

This same format works regardless of what your dream might be. It's a matter of breaking your dream down into bite-size pieces that become more manageable. Doing this doesn't make it seem as scary or impossible to achieve.

But, none of this matters if you are not willing to do the hard work required of achieving those bite-sized pieces. You have to get boots on the ground, work the phones, make the cold calls, study the assignments, sacrifice and be committed to doing just a little bit more than the next person. After all, the next person is average, and you don't want to be average. You want to be the top producer. Achieving your dream may require you to make just one more call before you go home each day. Sometimes just a little extra effort enables you to see your dreams fulfilled.

Like everything else in life, the choice is yours. Do you want to see your dream fulfilled badly enough that you will take the action required to accomplish it?