Mush Panjwani is a successful trainer, motivational speaker and author who’s built his success from the ground up. I invited Mush to speak at a recent yoga, music and transformational evening we hosted at the KEE club and his message was spot on. I’m happy to introduce you to Mush and hope you’re as inspired as I was by his 4 step method to turning your dreams into reality.
If you are only interested, you will do what’s convenient. If you are committed, you will do whatever it takes. – John Assaraf
As a man who’s built his whole career out of making his dreams come true and helping others to do the same, it might surprise you to learn that I once struggled with dreams. Aged 15, I was forced to stop school and start working. It seemed like the end of the world – no education, no family support, no money — and I felt like I had nothing in life to look towards.
I got lucky, and soon I met the right people who showed me how to dream, and how to make those dreams into a reality. For over 30 years now, I’ve been following a similar approach to the one I learnt back then. I call it the “4-step method”. I use these four steps to fulfill my dreams and achieve my goals, big and small, long-term and short-term.
This method has helped me to get to the top of my dream job, travel the world, achieve the health and fitness that I desired, start a blog, write and publish a book, and even start a business — all through the power of dreaming! I have also helped hundreds of people achieve their dreams through the same 4-step method. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. Follow me.
1. Start dreaming
We all have dreams. Or at least we once did, as children. It’s a pity that somewhere in life we stop dreaming. We learn that dreaming is no good; dreaming doesn’t help and dreams don’t come true. But here’s the truth: If you want a dream to come true, you’ve got to have a dream.
This is the easiest step in the process. Grab a pen and start dreaming, then write your dreams down. It doesn’t matter how far-fetched or unrealistic your dreams are. This is not a time to self-audit, overanalyze or restrict yourself — this is a time to dream! It helps to think of your dreams in terms of experiences, achievements and things. For example:
What are the things you want to do (learn, travel, contribute, experience)?
What are the things you want to be (entrepreneur, author, volunteer, mom)?
What are things you want to have (all the material stuff that money can buy)?
Once you have some dreams written down, you can move to the next step.
2. Create a goal and commit
Now that you have your dream list, stop and think about one or two of them that inspire you the most: the dreams that can happen quickly, the dreams you are most passionate about or the dreams you’d try to live out if you only had a year to live.
The next step is to turn your dream into a goal. You do that in two ways. Firstly, by making your dream specific and, secondly, by making it time-bound. For example, ‘I want to travel’ is a dream; ‘I am going to see the Niagara Falls in 2016’ is a goal. ‘I want to lose weight’ is a dream; ‘I am going to lose 10 kg in the next 10 weeks’ is a goal. You see the difference between a dream and a goal? This is often the hardest part because it requires you to make a commitment to your dream.
3. Come up with a plan
Now you have a dream and a goal, the next thing you need is a plan – the action steps required. If the goal is a destination, then the plan is the route. Working backwards from your goal, it’s best to think in terms of monthly, weekly, and daily actions you must take.
For example, a plan for a weight-loss goal requires a daily diet and exercise plan. The plan for my goal ‘to write and publish a book in two years’ was ‘write one chapter every Sunday morning for the next 100 weeks’. Many goals require money, so perhaps part of the plan will be to be save a particular amount every month into a ‘dream account’. That may require cutting down on certain things or increasing the amount of income you earn through a part-time job or side-business, or selling something you already own of value.
If you can’t come up with daily, weekly or monthly action steps that guarantee the achievement of your goal, then it’s likely an unrealistic goal.
4. Take action
Congratulations. Now you have a road map with the starting point, destination and route clearly marked. You’re pointing in the direction of your dreams, now you just need to start moving in the right direction!
The action could be a 30-minute walk to get fit, replacing one unhealthy snack with a healthy one, saving part of your income, waking up a little earlier to read or write or learn something that you have committed to. No excuses, no procrastination!
Now you know what it takes to turn a dream into a reality, don’t make any New Year resolutions this year. Those resolutions are often just dreams or goals, which are not backed up with a realistic plan and daily action. Try this 4-step method instead. If you make New Year resolutions and give up within a week or a month, you’ll know why.
May you live a life of your dreams.
Mush Panjwani has been a successful sales trainer and motivational speaker for over 28 years. Mush works with corporates, entrepreneurs, managers and sales teams across the Asia Pacific. Mush is also the author of ‘Dhinchak Life’ (a book about living a fantastic life) and the founder of ‘Dinchack’, offering corporate training, business consulting and personal coaching in sales, communication, leadership and motivation.
