Waking Up The Dream

How does someone who is asleep wake up?

Generally, we awake from sleep from one of the following ways:

–        Our body has slept long enough and we drift back to conscious awareness of our surroundings. This is the passive wake up.

–        A noise startles us (unplanned alarm). This could be a loud noise like a bang or perhaps a voice asking for help. This would be the surprise/unwanted wake up.

–        An alarm sounds (which we set before hand to wake up at the right time). We could call this the planned wake up.

Sleep, however, isn’t the only thing we need to wake up from…

Inside each of us, are hopes, aspirations, plans, ambitions, desires, wants, dreams – stuff we’d like to get done and/or see happen. Many of these can lay dormant for a great deal of time, to the point where, for many, the question is not of their existence, but if they can indeed be awoken into the realm of realised existence.

So what if we’re aware of a dream that seems asleep inside us and we think it might be a good idea to wake it up?

How can we wake up a dream?

The Passive Dream Wake Up

We could wait and see if it ‘happens’… unfortunately for many, they adopt the natural wake up method for their dream.” If this happens, then…”, may sound reasonable enough, but is by far the least effective way to wake your dream up. This lotto approach to your dream may seem easier on the surface, but has terrible odds of success, will attract a big adrenaline rush and then leave one very underprepared person in the midst of opportunity they are liable to waste.

Waiting for the passive wake up, starts slow and leaves you playing catch up all day long (just like if you forgot to set your alarm clock and slept in for an hour or three).

The Unplanned Dream Wake Up

The second way we can be awoken into our dream starts quite unpleasantly. The forced wake up can occur through the loss of a job, a family emergency, natural disaster or a bad health report and whilst the end can be good, the initial startle and wake-up call is unpleasant and will not seem like things are about to work in your favour… probably quite the opposite.

One advantage of the unplanned dream wake up is that it can unearth dreams, skills and abilities that you may not have known about any other way. This is where everyday people become heroes and achieve great exploits, this is where what could’ve been an excuse for utter failure, becomes the catalyst for something great. Whilst you would never want the unplanned wake up (thus the unplanned component), should it come knocking, you’ll have a moment to make a choice to see what you’re really capable of.

The Planned Wake Up – Waking Up On Purpose – #happenness

You have a dream, that’s good.

If you have a plan, that’s great.

If you enact the plan, you’re awesome!

Far and away the most reliable way to wake up is to set the alarm clock. Work out when you need to be out the door, how long you need to get ready, set the wake up time and set the clock. If you’re likely to hit snooze, factor it in, build it into the plan and set the clock accordingly.

Likewise with our dreams, the most effective way to see them become real is to set a plan and work towards making it happen. Enrol in that course, research the market, start training, find a coach, start saving, whatever it takes, set the clock and wake that dream up!

What if the dream wants to keep sleeping?

Ever had those mornings where you want to hit snooze 10 times? What morning is that most likely to happen, the day you’re leaving early for the beach or the day you’ve got to leave early for work?

It’s never about the wake up time, it’s always about the purpose.

To properly wake up any dream, it needs to be aligned with purpose. Why do you want it?

You need to know why you want what you want and you need to be prepared to pay the price and regularly remind yourself of the why and let that be your motivation. I don’t know many athletes that love the idea of getting up at 4am every day to train or university students who love working on their PHD, but I do know people who will do this anyway because they love why they do it.

Do you have a dream?

Can its purpose inspire you to set the alarm?

It’s wake up time