Why Dreams Are As Important As Goals
New Year. New Books. New Dreams.
January is the perfect time for setting New Year’s Dreams. That's right: not goals, dreams!
Ahh but you ask, isn’t a dream just a goal without a plan? Not quite.
A dream is the foundation for goals. It’s the ultimate “end” for any endeavor.
That said, dreams don’t have to be practical. When my daughter was three she wanted to grow up to be a wolf and a mermaid. Did I sit her down and say, “Honey, you can either be a wolf or a mermaid, not both”?
Of course not. I let her dream.
We live in a society obsessed with productivity. Too often we define worth by accomplishments. I do this, too. I started 2020 with a long list of goals. Short term, long term: it was all planned out. Then one-by-one, the pandemic squashed my careful scheduling. Writing time? Poof. Marathon training? Nope. School visits? Gone. Regular school for my children? Hahaha. In my dreams!
Checklists and spreadsheets melted and with them my motivation. I had to reconnect with my WHY. Why do I do what I do?
In the middle of this pause in productivity, a few dreams came true unexpectedly.
A Father’s Love was a blue ribbon selection for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Over 300,000 children were gifted my book through her amazing literacy program.
My publisher also recently released a board book edition of A Father’s Love.
I saw sketches for my upcoming book with Korwin Briggs, A HISTORY OF UNDERWEAR WITH PROFESSOR CHICKEN! Cover reveal coming soon.
These milestones were super cool and also somewhat out of my control. I worked for years and I finally got my break when I was taking a break...if you can call homeschooling four kids during a pandemic a break. ;)
The twists and turns as you follow your WHY might surprise you too, but you'll always be somewhere you want to be if you stay true to yourself. So stop saying, “that’s impossible!” Instead, try asking: why do I want this?
Why did my daughter want to be a merwolf? Well, she likes swimming and she also enjoys being wild, so we found her WHY in swimming lessons.
What are you dreaming this year?
Wherever you are and whatever you’re dreaming, I wish you a hope-filled 2021.
I appreciate you this year and always.
Happy New Year!
Hannah