Spring is here and it's the perfect time for new beginnings in your personal and professional life.
I love fresh starts. A clean slate. A new outlook - the opportunity to get it right! Whether that’s a new calendar year or school year, a new project or event, I love the anticipation and dreaming that comes with the chance to start again. Spring is the perfect time for a fresh start. We typically think of new beginnings at the start of the New Year. And for many there’s the ritual of making resolutions. Unfortunately, studies show that typically only about 25% of people keep their resolutions after 30 days and only about 8% actually accomplish their goal by the end of the year[1]. Those aren’t great odds. It’s human nature to want to move forward; our desires provide us with a sense of purpose. So why do we keep setting goals, but not make progress toward them?
Spring is the perfect time for a fresh start.
I believe this happens because we either aren’t in touch with our true heart’s desire and/or we don’t have a realistic sense of how things progress and grow. This is not surprising given that we live in an age of instant response and distorted pictures of what success means and how to achieve it. Our world is changing at a fast pace, fueled by technology and a global explosion of information and ideas. We no longer need to grow our own food or experience the full impact of seasons and climate, instead enjoying our air-conditioned and heated homes. Most people cannot identify the plants they eat to sustain their lives. It’s no wonder that we have a distorted sense of how things grow – including our own dreams and goals. We’re bombarded with images and stories that show only the successes, and gloss over the actual process involved to achieve a goal or dream. We often approach our own dreams and endeavors with a lot of judgment about how quickly we should achieve our success. These expectations are unrealistic and out of tune with the natural order of growth. The result is often disappointment, blame (usually of oneself), and ultimately giving up on our dreams.
Growth rarely happens in a straight, predictable lines
Growth rarely happens in a straight, predictable line. It can be erratic, often with a lot of setbacks and periods of growth spurts. It requires support and nurturing to meet those needs as they unfold. It requires cultivation. Cultivation requires taking certain steps to increase our chances of success. We can create the conditions for our dreams to manifest by taking our lessons from nature and applying the same tried and true methods of cultivation to allow our dreams and goals to come to fruition. This site and this blog focuses on these seven key steps to set ourselves up for achieving our goals and dreams:
Step 1: Plan your garden of dreams
Step 2: Prepare the ground for your dreams to thrive
Step 3: Create support systems
Step 4: Plant the seeds of your dreams
Step 5: Water and fertilize your dreams for growth
Step 6: Maximize results
Step 7: Harvest and celebrate your success
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Let’s make this the year your dreams blossom!
[1] Statista Survey 2019