It feels like too many things to do in a given day.

Montecruz Foto via Compfight

Likely, you think you don’t have enough time to do everything you’d like to do.

You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all b-u-s-y.

As a result, we don’t believe we have enough time to work on our dreams.

However, let me tell you what the real problem is.

It’s where we put our focus.

Our hours are soaked up by the varied responsibilities and priorities we have in our lives.

As a result, we live our schedules and we talk ourselves out of doing anything even remotely related to our dreams.

We’re just trying to get through the day.

So how in the world can you squeeze in dream time when you have no time?

The solution?

Focus on the tasks and not on the amount of time it will take.

It’s a subtle shift, but when you begin viewing your dream as a series of short term tasks and not a huge, overwhelming mountain of a dream you will give yourself the gift of hope.

Some days, you will only be able to take a baby step toward your dream.

Other days you’ll be on fire with your amazing productivity.

Either way, you’ve had a victory.

String together enough victories and you’ll find yourself moving forward one small step at a time.

Here’s four suggestions on how to shift your thinking to accomplish your dream:

1. Clarify your priorities. Michael Hyatt’s Creating Your Personal Life Plan is an excellent resource to help you get clear on your priorities. You’ll need this when life gets crazy and you have to choose between your dream time and the necessities of your daily reality.

2. Set yourself up for success. Have a way to capture those ideas you come up with for your project tasks. Then when you sit down to focus on those tasks you can hit the ground running. You may only have 30 minutes on any given day. Start with task one and go through your list with the time you have allotted. It may take you a week or 6 months to finish. However, you’ll finish your project if you just focus on completing one task at a time.

3. Cancel your cable. Read that again. Yes, call your provider and drop the “c” bomb on them. The first 30 days will be hard. After that you will wonder why you ever watched TV. On average, you’ll give yourself an extra 2.7 hours every day by not watching TV. You can either watch actors perform a good story on TV or you can choose to live an interesting story yourself.

4. Embrace the tension. You will never figure this out completely. You won’t find yourself achieving perfect balance with your schedule. That is the beauty and chaos of life. Some days you will quit on your dream. Then you’ll realize your dream is what makes you feel alive. You’ll start the balancing act again.

You’ll still be busy. You may become busier than is comfortable. However, it’s your dream and it’s your life. You just might find you have time for both.

Question: What would you do if you felt like you had more time?

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The coal mine meant hard work, black lung, and a steady pay check.  If your granddad worked there, your dad worked there, and guess what? You were going to work there too.  Seemingly there weren’t a lot of choices.

In times past children were expected to follow in the paths of their parents.  The son of an engineer was expected to be an engineer, the daughter of a nurse was sent to nursing school, and the children of a farmer were going to work the land. Today that is not the case at all. There are so many options and opportunities available for interesting, enjoyable, and profitable work.  Yet we often spend more time planning a vacation than we do outlining the career we want for ourselves.

How many people do you know who are in their current careers and are miserable because they chose a career they were not interested in but their parents encouraged them to go into it. Or they graduated from college, applied for a couple of jobs, and the first employer to make them an offer sent them on a career trajectory they never wanted.  Today, we still have the equivalent of the coal mine when we choose particular careers because we believe our options are limited.  So how do you begin to escape your version of the coal mine?

The first step is to start asking yourself the right questions.

Stop asking yourself these questions:

1. What careers will be most in demand in the next five years?
2. What job pays the most with the least amount of education or training?
3. Which jobs are easy to get?

Start asking yourself these questions:

1. When I daydream about a career, what do I dream about?
2. How can I add the most value to others?
3. What types of things do I tend to do in my free time away from my job?
4.  What recurring themes have I noticed in my life about things I enjoy doing?

When you start asking yourself these questions you will begin to move toward the type of work that is most fitting for you and is truly work you enjoy.

I would love to know your answers to the four questions.  What did you come up with?