What is your dream life?
We’ve all been told to aim for that dream life, but how many actually make it a reality?
Often the dream life is trivialized. We see wealthy people driving expensive cars, living luxuriously, and traveling at will.
While movie stars and entertainers make lots of money, they are often at a loss when it comes to purpose. What is the dream life?
The foundation of the dream life is purpose. Those who live the dream life do not seek money, cars, and travel first. Instead, they seek meaning.
Think about this: what do you want to be said about you when you have taken your last breath?
The dream life is not a magical existence.
It’s not luck, karma, or the universe bestowing a blessing. The dream life is a driven, purpose-filled life rendering service to others.
As a result of living life in this manner, many of the benefits mentioned above become available.
This is what my dad, Gene Guarino, did with Residential Assisted Living.
What does it take, and how much do you want to find your dream life?
Below you will find eleven essential keys to dissecting and understanding what your dream life will be.
1. Know What You Want
Be honest with yourself and ask, “What do I want from life? What do I want to do? Money notwithstanding, if I no longer needed financial gain, what would I do?”
These questions frequently go unanswered for many. Life has so stamped out hope and expectation that dreaming as you once did when you were younger is near impossible.
So, let’s unlock the child in you who saw things plainly without the veiled eyes of a skewed adult.
Give these questions a thought:
- What makes you happy?
- What are your interests?
- What does success mean to you?
- What do you want from life?
- What are your priorities?
- What do you want to change in your life?
- Whom do you admire?
Answer honestly. Do not pretend to be yourself. Remember what Claudius told his son in the timeless Shakespearean play Hamlet – “To thine own self be true.”
2. Have a Concrete Plan
Do not rethink what you have written as responses to the questions above. Keep going. You have told yourself what you want. Now, let’s plan.
Why plan? Plans overcome the ebbs and flow of daily life. One day is excellent; the next is horrific. One day you feel like conquering the world; the next, you’ve been obliterated. Nonetheless, you still have a dream.
With a detailed plan, anything is possible.
Make your plan realistic and user-friendly. Set goals with milestones. Goals must be clear cut understandable, and achievable objectives. Milestones are the small wins along the way to reaching and achieving your goal. Try the following:
- Create a goal.
- Set a due date.
- Create smaller milestones to achieve your big goal. Small wins help.
- Milestone 1 is due in 3 months.
- Milestone 2 is due in 6 months
- Milestone 3 is due in 12 months.
- Goal Achieved.
Then, repeat the process for every goal. Productivity motivates you to continue until you have reached the ultimate goal – your dream life.
3. Take Consistent Action
Consistency is the key. No goal is achievable without consistent action toward that end. Do you want your dream life? Get consistent about your pursuit of it.
Truthfully, it is easier said than done. Consistency takes practice and patience – this is why milestones are essential.
The small wins fuel consistency.
A bit of wisdom is necessary at this point. While consistency is essential when frustration erupts, take a break.
Revisit your plan and make adjustments. When in pursuit of a goal, new information not available during the planning time comes to light.
You may need to adjust your timeline.
If so, make the necessary adjustments and resume consistent work – this is the journey. You will reach your goal.
4. Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress will ensure you are achieving your dream life. Use tools to help you capture progress.
- Journal your experience
- Use a unique calendar to make sure you are timely with the process.
- Apps may be best, too, for tracking all essential information relative to your dream life.
Missed milestones should be made identifiable. Figure out what happened and make adjustments. Think of your pursuit as a sporting event.
You are in the game, and your opponent may make some of your plays ineffective. Pivot, adjust, and move forward.
Celebrate the small wins. These milestones are key. When you’ve achieved the goal, really celebrate and then get back to work. You are in pursuit of life, not a moment.
5. Be Open to Failure
Even the best-laid plans fail – accept it – learn from it and move on. You need to prepare for failure. Nothing worth achieving comes easy.
So, here’s what you must do with failure:
- Understand it. How did it happen? Were there warning signs you missed?
- Value it. What lessons have you learned from failure?
- Adjust. What needs to be adjusted to avoid further disappointment?
- Appreciate it. You need to know what not to do as much as what to do.
Remember, life comes with a host of unpredictable events. Do not take yourself too seriously – faulting yourself will only destroy motivation.
Learn, grow, and go.
Learning to deal with failure makes you fearless. You expect it and know how to deal with it. It does not thwart you; it pushes you to greatness.
6. Stay Away From Negativity
Negativity is a very menacing enemy to a dream life. Again, do not take yourself too seriously. You will make mistakes, and that is acceptable.
Remember, you are learning – this is not a negative experience, but a learning opportunity.
Avoid naysayers as well.
People who have given up their pursuit have no good comments about yours. You need not be mean, but put space between you and them.
Make sure you protect your dreams. Would you not watch a baby from a tiger?
When you do experience low moments, engage in activity that makes you happy. Do you enjoy biking? How about exercising?
Do what makes you happy – this is your time for a bit of joy break. Then, get back to work.
7. Surround Yourself With Positive People
If negative people are to be avoided, surround yourself with the positive, joyful people in your life.
Spend your downtime with people who are living an entire and hopeful life. Listen to their experience and encourage their dreams.
Surrounding yourself with positive joy-filled people is like receiving a dose of jet fuel.
They will give you ideas, strategies, tactics, and access to their network of professionals.
So often, a problem resolution happens when you least expect it – a friendly gathering at Starbucks.
Make sure you listen to them as much as you share – this is a reciprocal relationship, which always leaves all participants full of hope.
8. Believe in Yourself
While you should not take yourself too seriously, you should possess confidence. Consider this truth: If you envision your dream life, you are more than capable of achieving it.
You may need to adjust, learn new things, and develop new friendships, but you can do it – this is not an impossible task.
You can see its fruition in your mind’s eye, which is the keenest vision you have. Many leaders have said it, and it is true: what the mind conceives the body can achieve.
When tough times come, and they will undoubtedly manifest, look through your mind’s eye. Remember, your dream life is not whimsical.
You have conceived it – you are now working to birth it – that takes labor.
9. Focus on What You Can Control
Unfortunately, you are not omnipotent. If you were, you would not need to labor to live your dream life.
So, recognize the limits of your genius and what you can and can not control. All good business owners understand a SWOT analysis.
The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
The Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors – these are things within your purview.
The Opportunities and Threats are external factors – these are things you have no control over.
Maintaining a SWOT analysis of your dream life will ensure proper perspective and goal accomplishment.
Ultimately, the Serenity Prayer works:
“God grant me the Serenity to
Accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
10. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Comparing yourself to someone else who has achieved their dream life is useless. You are not them, and they are not you.
Why do this? It’s a waste of time.
Comparison to others insults the genius and vision you possess. You have envisioned your dream life.
You conceived it in your heart; the childlike honesty lost to adulthood. Your dream life is innocent and in need of cultivation and protection.
Comparison to others undermines the process of achievement. It belittles the genius within and circumvents progress.
Therefore, avoid this at all costs.
Instead, listen to the success story of others. Glean wisdom from them. Get strategies or tactics that are applicable.
If nothing applies, rejoice with them. Appreciate the labor people have done and the goals achieved.
If the source of your comparison is social media, stop. Social media always conveys everyone having their best life, and this is not reality. Therefore, focus and work toward your dream life without comparison to others.
11. Stop Making Excuses
Do not put off for tomorrow what you can do today. No excuses. If you are to realize your dream life, you must be intentional. If you fail to accomplish a milestone, adjust and move forward. If you find you are chronically late, pivot and move forward.
Realizing your dream life is not a sprint but a marathon. Settle down, get focused, and run at the pace you can handle.
You are not too old, and the perfect time never comes. You must seize the day and take a leadership role in your own life. You can do it if you purpose yourself to do so.
Carpe diem.
The Bottom Line for Fulfilling Your Dream in Assisted Living
Life is far too short not to live it purposefully – you have natural giftings and talents. Leverage them wisely. Be honest with yourself, and you will realize your dream life.
The Residential Assisted Living Academy seeks to educate, train, and support entrepreneurs looking to maximize their potential.
The opportunity to own and operate an assisted living home can happen sooner than you think – register for the next 3-day course today at www.RALAcademy.com.
Building an assisted living business with the help of the Residential Assisted Academy can set you on the path to living your dream.
It will take work, preparation, and determination, but this investment opportunity is one of the biggest in business and real estate for the next 20 years.
Your dream in assisting our nation’s seniors with their greatest challenge, quality senior housing, is your opportunity to fulfill your destiny.
