Do you remember as a child dreaming of becoming an adult? What happened to those little kid dreams? Have they been tossed aside like toys of our youth, or is there still a little glimmer of those dreams trying to find their way into reality?

For many of us there were choices along our road to adulthood. Those choices didn't always reflect what our dreams were. Our dreams were shifted to the back burner because other things took priority. This is not to say that those priorities were good or bad; it is just the facts of life. I want us to think about how we can rekindle those dreams.

In our sidetracked natures we usually can't look past our noses when it comes to dreams. We want what we want and we want it now. If our dreams are not easily attainable, we have a tendency to allow our perfectionism to beat us up and tell us that we can't do that because it will take too long. Our dreams fall by the wayside while we go about our daily grind. "Oh, why even bother, I will never be able to do that!"

Dreams can become realities if we will envision them. This is to see the finished product. Maybe your dream is to write a book. What does the cover look like? Is it on the best-seller list? Can you see your name in print at the bottom of the cover? Then you have to take baby steps to make the dream a reality.

This is what I did when I wrote my first book, "Sink Reflections." People have asked me how long it took me to write it. They seem to be shocked when I tell them it took me two weeks. The reason it took me two weeks is because I laid down some strict rules for making sure this happened. I already had my routines in place. It is with these routines that I was able to use them to make my book come to life.

My hard and fast rule was that as soon as I got dressed to shoes each morning, made my bed, ate breakfast, cleared my hot spots (coffee table in front of my line of vision), "Swiffered" my floors and emptied my dishwasher, I could write. My job was to turn on the computer but not my e-mail or my browser. The toughest rule was not answering the phone during my writing time. My writing assignment was 10 pages or three hours, whichever came first. By noon each day I was finished. In two short weeks of consistently following my self-imposed schedule and rules, I had a manuscript.

I didn't allow anything to get in the way of my vision. I saw my book, I could feel my book and I knew it was just a matter of simple baby steps to release that book from my head. Do you have a dream that you have lost your vision for? Sit down today and write down what that vision is. See it! Now what simple baby steps can you take each day to make your dream a reality?

Don't scoff at your dreams: "Dream Big," as the song says by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. You can make your dreams come true one baby step or just 15 minutes at a time. Let your routines make your dreams a reality!

---

Marla Cilley, a k a FlyLady, is the author of Sink Reflections (Bantam Books Trade Paperback). For more help, please go to: www.FlyLady.net. © 2006