How to turn dreams into reality
This is my simple formula for turning dreams into reality. You might recognize the beautiful infographic below from my other website, Dreamaplay.com. It is designed for a younger audience, but it works for everyone and anything, whether you want to be an adventurer or a cupcake baker.
If you want to try this yourself, there is a free, downloadable PDF below. Stay tuned, I will be adding an adult version with many more steps and a lot more explanation.
We’re here to help you create a dream that makes life worth living. When you tap into the passion of your dream suddenly things like school, work and exercise aren’t chores anymore, but the tools to making dreams a reality and building an amazing life.
If you ask 100 different people what should you do with your life, you are going to get 100 different answers. What we do is provide you the framework, so that you can find the answer that works best for you. Our theory is a simple 3-step process. First, you need a dream. Second, you need a map to make your dream real. And, third, you need to take the steps of action to make your dream a reality. Along the way, you’ll need to learn how to overcome obstacles, and — of course — you’ll want to have fun doing it. In other words: Dream It! Map it! Play it!
Our dream theory is supported by our original evidence-based dream research, the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy and social-emotional learning. In fact, all our work (books, games, activities) is scientifically proven to increase optimistic thinking, perseverance, mindfulness, hope and more.
Games, activities and stories are central to our philosophy of learning, because they all involve play, and playing is scientifically proven to help you learn. Even animals play games. You can see that we included the idea of a game in our very own logo. Our logo is a crossword puzzle, and it reinforces the three steps of turning dreams into reality.
Below we talk about our 3-step formula and the process to achieve each step.
(This looks best on a desktop or tablet.)
How to turn dreams into reality
The simple 3-step formula
Step 1: Dream it!
Everything begins with a dream. Take the first step in creating a new reality — dream big! If you could do anything, what would you do? This first step is to find a dream that you are passionate about, something that you would walk to the ends of the earth to accomplish. We wrote a book all about step 1 called — of course — Dream It! In our book, we break the dream process down into three mini steps. (This looks best on a desktop or tablet.)
Fill your bucket
The first mini step to dreaming is to collect as many ideas as possible. We call this filling the bucket, or you could call it brainstorming.
Sort your treasure
Now that we have a bucket full of ideas, we need to sort them out. Which ones are our favorites, and which ones match our values?
Build a dream
Finally, we take the best of the best and we recombine the ideas until we get that AHA! feeling.
Step 2: Map it!
Plan for what you know
The first mini step to mapping is to make a plan of everything we know that we need. One example is the 5 w’s. We can outline the who, what, why, when and how of our plan.
Plan for what you know that you do not know
After outlining what we know, we will find holes. Now our job is to make a plan on how to fill those holes. For example, we can ask a friend for advice.
Plan for what you do not know that you do not know
Finally, we need to create a backup plan. If we are setting out on a new adventure, even if that is to be a cupcake baker, we are bound to run into unknowns.
Step 3: Play it!
Get your feet wet
Practice makes perfect
After trying out a few dreams and discovering one we love, our goal will be to make our dreams a reality quicker, more impeccably and with the most joy possible. That means lots of practice.
Do it different
Let’s say you are stuck. You keep practicing, but you never seem to be able to make your dream a reality. Well, try doing it a little differently. Edison tested over 3000 different kinds of light bulbs before he found one that worked.
Congratulations!!!
One of two things happened
Learn how to turn dreams into reality
The Dream Workshop
Try our evidence-based Dream Workshop and download the free PDF. Or, do a deep dive into learning how to dream and discover your passion in life with our book “Dream It!” Published by Magination Press an imprint of the American Psychological Association.
Dream It!
Do you want to live the biggest, brightest, best life possible? Do you want to create things never seen before? Do you want to do things never done before? Do you want your life to mean something and make a difference? In other words, do you want to feel and be awesome? If so, this book is for you!
Dream It! is chock full of evidence-based activities, games, and brainstorming questions to help you discover your passions, identify your strengths and values, create brand-new, unique-to-you dreams… and ultimately open the door to a life full of possibilities! So get ready—with this playbook as your guide, not even the sky’s the limit.
