Dare to Dream
by Eileen Nonemaker
Eileen’s long, successful career in sales and sales management makes her an easy choice for those leaders and managers who are responsible for generating revenue and achieving corporate goals and have no time to waste getting there. Clients appreciate her ability to help them quickly select, assess, train and develop their sales teams whether they are selling products or services. New teams get brought up to speed quickly and experienced teams develop what is necessary to perform at the next level. Through goal setting, skill refinement and the development of accurate forecasting skills, she has helped both individuals and teams develop strong success strategies. Utilizing her formal training as a business coach and consultant to supplement her natural ability to connect with people, Eileen gains the trust and respect needed to interact with both leadership and team members. When coaching individual clients, Eileen becomes a 'lady on a mission' to help them succeed. Eileen is able to help them stay focused on their objectives and establish goals that take them to that next level in their personal and/or business lives. Her coaching typically involves teaching people how to set measurable goals, how to look at goals objectively and how to re-evaluate them periodically to stay on track. Eileen’s goal as a coach is to help her clients find the right balance between career and family so they have the best of both worlds.
Recently my husband and I watched the DVD, "The Bucket List" (Warner Bros. 2007) starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman. The gist of the story is two men given limited time to live, travel the world, experiencing things they have dreamed about doing, checking them off the list as "completed"… checking them off "The Bucket List."
How many of us have bucket lists…things we hope to do someday before we die? How many of us dare to dream? Most of us keep these dreams in our heads. Have you ever considered the power of writing down those dreams? Studies have shown that putting things in writing creates commitment and can have a powerful effect on our desire for achievement.
Dare to dream
- Build my dream house on the Bay or on the ocean
- Go big game hunting in Alaska
- Become a millionaire
- Travel the world
- Play every golf course on the East coast
- Meet your favorite celebrity
- Purchase a new car every two years
- Earn an advanced degree
- Be elected to public office
- Travel into space
Create a notebook or journal and dare to dream on paper. Create a "Dream Inventory" to help you crystallize your dreams. List anything you want to do, own, see or become. Leave nothing to chance. Remember…anything you can dream, you can do or have. Add to this daily, weekly, monthly…record the date of entry…trust me it is fun.
Many achievements have started out as crazy ideas and many of the dreams you list will be totally out of reach. List them anyway. Some of your dreams will become goals, some will not. I started a dream inventory back in 1990 while participating in a sales development process and I am continually amazed by how many of my dreams have become goals…goals I have already achieved or I am still in the process of achieving.
I have read that a dream is a goal with a deadline. If writing down the dream is powerful, imagine the power of assigning a target date for its completion. Suddenly it becomes a goal with which I am emotionally bonded and I will create a plan to make it happen.
Instead of waiting for someone or something to impose a target date on your dreams, do it yourself… NOW! Today is the day to start your own "bucket list" or "dream inventory" and make your life happen.