How to Make Your Wildest Dreams a Reality
By Craig Lock

According to Bill Gates there are 3 keys to success in any new venture:

1) Being in the right place at the right time. (You could well be already there!)
2) Have a vision of where the industry/business you're working in is going!
3) Taking Massive and Immediate Action! (It is time to act!)

"The future belongs to those who believe in the quality of their dreams."
Was it Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the famous German poet
and philosopher who said those wise words?

Here are my 15 steps to fulfilling my wildest dreams...

1. KNOW YOURSELF. Know and accept your weaknesses and faults (we all have them), but even
more so your strengths, abilities and gifts.  Build on your strengths and try to minimize or improve
on your weaknesses. An honest, objective analysis of yourself is the first step in preparing you for
success and realizing your dreams. Celebrate you for just being you, a unique creation.

Aim for mental clarity about what you most want out of life. Think about it and write it down. If it's
happiness, what do you mean by happiness: a sense of belonging, recognition, independence,
love, money or security? If you don't know where you are and where you want to go with your life,
how will you ever get there? Aim at nothing and you're sure to hit it.

2. GET PASSIONATE Don't apologize for getting passionate. What excites you the most? If you
are not enthusiastic and excited about what you're doing, your path in life, you'll never get others
to share your dream. Once you find your passion, you will have found your POWER, MEANING
and PURPOSE in life.

3. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PASSION   Always be aware. Negative people will
poison your dream faster than anything else. Motto: "If you can't be positive, shut up!" Try and
stay positive...even in the face of negativity.

4. ACCEPT FROM THE START THAT YOU WON'T PLEASE EVERYONE   You're going to be
misunderstood, misquoted, hurt some feelings, perhaps even lose some friends (for the time being).
Motto: "What other people think of me is none of my business!" Repeat this statement to yourself,
especially when you doubt or feel discouraged.

5. ALWAYS BE YOURSELF   To thine own self be true. (Shakespeare's "Hamlet", act I.3)  This
is supremely important, no matter what the world may think of you. The masses are conditioned
to mediocrity and other people's success can make them not feel inferior for their own insignificant
little lives.

Accept yourself. Learn from others -- but don't be intimidated by them, or pretend to be someone
you're not; because... "We are most effective when we're being ourselves."

6. DON'T BE SCARED OF MAKING MISTAKES   The only real mistake is one from which you
learn nothing. Motto: "Far better to try something and fail, than try nothing and succeed!"

7. ACCEPT THAT IT WILL NEVER BE EASY   Realizing your dream may be the hardest, most
uphill thing you'll ever do. A truth ... "You can't coast uphill."

The key ingredient in success is never giving up. Keep on keeping on with your quest. It has been
said that "success is 99% made up of failures".

8. STAY HUMBLE (no matter how successful you may be.) Don't ever think you've made it and
arrived - there's always a lot ahead, more to do, higher mountains to climb. Motto: "The greatest
way to do our thing has yet to be discovered!"

9. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF  There is incredible power in yourself (in the form of the
unique human mind), but far more so in the forces of the Universe. Make them work for you by
living your life in harmony with these natural forces. Like positive energy attracts like.

Enough "spiritual" thoughts! Back to the "real world" and you. Avoid developing an inferiority
complex (Who am I, a 'nothing'?"). Don't be filled with feelings of self pity ("nobody likes me"),
or think "I can't do it". These thoughts will steal your dream.

10. HAVE FUN  Nothing is ever as bad as it seems--don't get too solemn, or serious or too
downcast when things go wrong (as they surely will from time to time). Take a leaf from Thomas
Edison's book: "I never did a day's work in my entire life: it was all FUN!"

Laugh at life's funny moments...and there are plenty of them. "The secret of happiness is not in
doing what one likes, but in liking what one does." -J.M. Barrie

11. DEVELOP 'THE WILL TO LIVE'   There will be plenty of times when you'll face the death of
your dream. When failures, disappointments, and criticisms come you need the will and faith to
keep going. Remember: We learn far more from our failures than our successes, because failures
show us what doesn't work. So, failure is just one step closer to ultimate success. Often the
difference between failure and success is trying just one more time, picking yourself up off the
canvas after being knocked down time and again.

12. DEVELOP 'THE WILL TO HELP AND SERVE OTHERS'.  Success on its own (i.e., for its
own sake) will pollute and corrupt you--it's a dead end street unless you have meaning in your life.
The years of struggle breed fortitude and character. The gold may be an inch away from the seam,
where your fellow miners have given up. You need to succeed for a reason, a purpose, a cause
that's bigger than you!

and IF (a very big if) you've fulfilled all the above requirements...

13. ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES. They are all around you. There are
no permanent problems--only solutions, possibilities and opportunities. The Chinese word for
'crisis' means 'danger' + 'opportunity'.

14. If you truly believe in what you are doing, DEVELOP THE 'WILL TO SUCCEED' with absolute
commitment. It is not enough to just survive, aim at being the best you can possibly be! Keep your
dream big, bold and even outrageous--don't water it down or settle for mediocrity... even if others
think you are crazy! Trust in your judgment, your intuition and your creative mind to overcome any
obstacles. "Be bold and mighty, unseen forces come to your aid."

15. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM! Be patient. Don't be in too much of a hurry to achieve
your goals and dreams. Be persistent and never quit. As the saying goes, 'Winners never quit and
quitters never win.'

 Always remember, when you think you've exhausted all your possibilities, you really haven't--there's
always another way, a better way...and even more importantly, there's always another day!

 Life is not a dress rehearsal, it's the main event. GO FOR THAT DREAM.
It is within you and within your reach.
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Craig Lock has studied and written extensively on the subject of personal success and
how to live your dreams. Craig is a writer, who believes in encouraging and helping others to
 strive for and accomplish their dreams.  He truly believes people can overcome obstacles,
rise to any occasion, and accomplish their entire dream with enough faith.