If you are a DIYer, this post is for you. It hails hot off the press from my own daily existence. From the most recent scribblings in my journal. From the blocks on my calendar. As I put hands to the plow each morning to eke out a dream, a calling, these are the ways I’m bungling it on the regular.

• Find a routine that works and marry it. I am a person very given to a rut. Without intentionality, I will veer to the familiar and plug along dutifully until the cows come home (I’m in touch with my inner farmer today). Now. In my brain, when you find what works, logic says keep doing it. And there’s some truth in that; however, creativity doesn’t play that game. Fresh ideas are rarely born out of stale circumstances. Innovation is a prerequisite for winning at anything, so change it up and regularly schedule some play, some rest, and some new.
• Heed the skeptic in your brain. Hogwash. Negative, pessimistic, suspicious, ungrateful people make lousy dream chasers.
• Find someone who’s doing what you want to do and do what they did to get there. Again, there’s a grain of wisdom in that line of thought, but it’s more often a trap than a recipe for success. Someone else’s path won’t be yours. Like it or not, God has you in a process that is ripe with purpose, and His process won’t be hacked. Furthermore, no one is doing what you want to do. Because if someone’s already doing exactly what you want to do, then you don’t need to do it. If someone’s already saying/doing/selling/building what you want to, you haven’t honed in closely enough on what only YOU can say/do/sell/or build.

• Know when to fold ’em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run. Discouragement is to be expected. You’ll want to hang it up. Almost every day. You’ll feel foolish for attempting to lug around a massive dream that doesn’t fit in your arms. You’ve got it strapped to your back, both arms hugging what they can in the front, a basket full of hope balancing on your head, and you’re kicking what won’t fit down the sidewalk. You’ll grow weary of looking like a spectacle with your grand ideas drawing all kinds of attention. This is where dreams get relegated to the storage units of our lives. Where they dust, out of view of others and occupy space we don’t really need. That’s what they get with their big selves. They get forgotten. And not only are they cumbersome, they smell too. Dreams are steeped in the odor of impossibility. So real deal dream chasing demands a high tolerance for the foolish and the impossible, the oversized and the stinky. Tenacity required. And don’t even get me started on patience…
• Read everything you can get your hands on and implement best practices. With regards to this blog, I have researched best days to release posts. I have found trusted information suggesting that a blogger can capture the best traffic on a Saturday post. And in the same interval of time, I read a different respected source that stated you should never post on Saturday. I have encountered the same with the optimal times of day for posting. All of that to say, you can waste a lot of time reading about contradictory best practices and land in confusion. There’s more merit in researching what’s working best for you and going with that.
• Hyper-focus on making it happen. Wreck your marriage, cheat your children, and ignore your friends. That always goes well.
• Hold your focus loosely and your plan tightly. While I’ve definitely stepped in the puddles of the aforementioned challenges, this is where I’m currently residing. I am a deplorable multi-tasker. So I try to stand in the middle of my life and run in seven different directions at once. Jesus-follower, wife, mama, daughter, sister, friend, small group co-leader, blogger. Where exactly does dream chaser fit in? I am having to get militant, with my very own self, about protecting the time I have set aside each day to dream and work and pray towards what God has called me to do – to help believers find Truth, strength, and hope in Jesus. Now my plan for doing that is an open-handed component because nothing in my life has ever gone as I planned; why would I think this will be different?

So what is that dream you’re paying storage fees on each month? What’s hindering you from pursuing it? Go free it, air it out, belt its largeness back on, and give me a head nod as we pass on the street. I’d wave….but……you know…….my hands are full. Carry on, friend, and I’d love to hear about your journey.

[Feature Image: Chris Devers]