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BJ Dumond’s first day as a pizza restaurant owner went down, literally, in flames. After that tumultuous opening, BJ survived and, today, is CEO of Simple Simon’s Pizza, a restaurant chain with 200 stores in a 10-state area. His story is one of belief, loyalty and getting up and going to work.

Katka Prackova is, for all intents and purposes, a nomad. She and her husband, Gaston, decided a number of years ago to abandon their fixed 9-to-5 lifestyle and spend most of their lives working remotely while traveling the globe. 

Barbara Meier Mayfield is a risk-taker, a poet and a kindergarten teacher. We both attended the same undergraduate college – Southwestern College in Kansas. After too many years of no contact, we recently reconnected and chatted about her multi-faceted life.

There are times when you may not really know what your dream is. Then, one day, circumstances change and the idea presents itself to you. Such was the case with Lee Clayton Roper, where a project to help her ailing mother has evolved into a second career.

Knowing one's family history and heritage is one thing; embracing it is another. In this episode we visit with Martin Miller who, for years, did not know his family's background. Once he learned, he was told to keep it quiet. After years of living in fear, he had a dream to embrace his heritage. He shares his journey with us and how, after all this time, lives in peace with himself.

We all have dreams and, as we’ve said before, sometimes we lose sight of them as daily life gets in the way. Here are five steps to help you move your dream forward. They’re really pretty simple and they’re effective because they are so simple:

1. Write your dream down – be specific about what it is you want to achieve.
2. Post it where you will see it every day – the bathroom mirror, next to your computer screen, wherever you will be sure to see it multiple times a day.
3. List out three initial steps you need to take to start moving toward your dream. Think about what you first need to do, who you need to talk to, what you need to learn, etc. There may be more steps involved, but don’t bury yourself! Just the first three steps for now and you can add the next steps once these are completed.
4. Visualize yourself living that dream. Believe that it is possible and that you’re going to do it. Self-doubt is the strongest negative force known to humankind. Self-belief is the strongest positive force.
5. Take the first step right now, today. Don’t wait any longer.

Sounds too easy, right? Let’s try it out and see how it works. Say I want to learn how to play the piano. Here are the five steps in action:

1. Write it down: “I want to play the piano well enough to accompany myself as I sing Broadway show tunes and to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.”
2. Post it: For me, I would write this on two sticky notes and place them on the bathroom mirror and on the corner of my laptop so I would see my dream first thing every day and throughout the day.
3. First three steps:

Decide how I want to learn. I could teach myself (YouTube “learn how to play the piano for beginners” returned 1.7 MILLION results and Amazon has 6500 “teach yourself piano” books listed). I could hire a piano teacher (“piano teachers Budapest” returned 225,000 results – with 43 pages that were in English). The good news is that there are many options and they’re accessible.

Decide how I will practice. An electric piano starts at around $100 with what appear to be quality brands costing $500-800. Used acoustic pianos start at around $1000. Alternatively, schools and churches have pianos in them – maybe I could get access to one?

Figure out when I have time to learn. Learning to the level I want to achieve will take time. I’ll need to commit to a lesson and practice schedule or I’ll never get it done. For me, paying for a tutor may be a better solution than a free online course. Left up to me without some kind of ROI (In this case, it’s “Risk of Ignoring” as my buddy DK taught me), it’s easy to push off lessons for other commitments. Having a set time commitment where others are dependent on me and for which I’m paying adds that extra push I sometimes need. Another solution is to set a goal – make a commitment where I have to perform, like at a birthday party nine months away. I know me and know that sometimes I need a fire underneath me to get me to commit.

4. Visualize: I can see myself in two situations: at a party with friends who are gathered around the piano while I’m playing show tunes everyone likes to sing and everyone is singing their hearts out. In another, I’m alone, playing the Moonlight Sonata, pouring my soul into that lovey work, filling our home with music.
5. Take the first step: Time to make some calls – I need to contact some prospective teachers and ask them how they teach, where they teach and what the cost will be. I will also take a look at some of the YouTube videos and maybe first give them a try – which will make me already move on to step 2…

The key to this whole process is starting. Devote some time to really think about your dream, write it down and make a list of what you need to do to start moving toward it. And then take that first step.

Let us know how you get along! We’re here to help you move forward.