7 steps to making your dreams come true

4. Want it
In their book, Gottlieb and Rosenswig suggest you ask yourself the following questions to evaluate whether a particular dream is the one you want to be pursuing.
• Am I animated when I talk about my dream?
• Am I working hard at my dream?
• Even though I feel stress, is the dream worth pursuing?
• Can I see myself inside the dream?
• Does my dream make me smile?
If you answer yes to most of these, then you are on the right track.

5. Imagine it
"You want to get so good at visualizing that you feel like you've experienced your dream before it even comes to life," says Goldhar, who suggests taking 10 minutes before going to sleep each night to visualize and anchor your dream into your subconscious. "Visualizing exactly what living your dream would look like can be a tool that produces unfailing results," adds Conway.

6. Face it
"We all have fears that we have to break through to begin living our dreams," says Conway. Our biggest fears -- regret and time passing -- are actually the biggest incentives to realizing our dreams, says Rosenswig. That said, you need to manage your fears. First, recognize them. For instance, do you worry that realizing your dream may be too hard or take too long? Second, only share your dream with supporters. "At the beginning dreams are delicate because of our own insecurities and self-doubt. You want to nurture the dream and get it to a place where it's healthy," says Goldhar.

7. Let it happen
Check in with your dream every so often. If it begins to feel like a burden, Goldhar says you're no longer dreaming. Perhaps your dream is to start an interior decorating business, but after a little research you realize it's going to take 80 hours a week and that prospect is less than desirable. You may modify your dream and decide you want to work as a designer for someone in the field instead. As Clara says, don't put limits on your dreams. "I'm always moving forward. No matter how difficult it is at the time I always know that I am moving toward something special."

Dream big
So your dream is to walk on the moon, or maybe your Oscar acceptance speech is already written. Deanna Rosenswig, coauthor of Dreams Have No Expiry Date (Random House Canada, 2005), says that it's fine to have a larger-than-life dream as long as not fulfilling it doesn't make you unhappy. "There are dreams that are more in your reach than others, but that's the whole point of dreaming; it's unlimited," says Ellen Goldhar, a life coach.

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