How do you achieve your dreams?

My answer to this question is simple. I call it my Strategy.Action.Results© method. It works for any size goal or dream – from career aspirations, starting a business, moving to a new place or like my goal of running a marathon on the North Pole.

Start by developing a Strategy.  Begin with the end in mind. Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve?  What is important to you? If today were your last day on earth what needs to happen so you can look back with no regrets? I often advise my coaching clients “If you don’t know where you are going you may end up somewhere else”.

Once you have your strategy, you have to take focused Action. What are the steps you must take, who are the people you need to consult, what are the opportunities you need to be aware of in order to achieve your dreams? The universe has a way of attracting what we focus on and helps us find ways to accomplish our desires.

Results will come. If you do the strategy and action steps diligently, it’s amazing how the results fall into place. Sometimes it doesn’t happen immediately. Often it doesn’t happen without doubts or self-questioning. But the results come if you set strategy, take focused action and are determined to work toward the outcome.

One of my dreams was to run the Boston Marathon. As most know, you can’t just sign up for Boston. You have to achieve a qualifying time by running in another marathon.

It took me many years to get to the qualifying time I needed. As I was preparing, I slipped on the ice and broke my ankle during a training run.  You can imagine my disappointment.

The reality was that I still had my dream and my strategy. I just had a few more actions to work through to accomplish my result, the Boston Marathon finish line.

Setbacks can be a blessing. If you work through them, they usually make you stronger. That’s what happened to me. I trained harder. I deepened my commitment. I made it to Boston and ran that marathon a year later.

Now I am ready to run the North Pole Marathon using Strategy.Action.Results© – a simple framework that helps me make my dreams come true.