Last week we talked about how important it is to dream about what we want to achieve in our career or in life generally. And that’s all fine, but to just dream probably won’t make a big difference. What we can do is to use our dreams to get creative about our own vision and help to shape the future that we want. The dreaming we do helps us to build a successful life for ourselves and make the vision come to life.

Here are 5 things to consider as we kick this process off:

1. The clearer our vision (of what we want to achieve) is, the more likely we are to pull towards it – with less clarity, the more we are likely to stay where we are. Staying where we are (despite having other wishes) = remaining in our comfort zone.

2. Dreaming about possibilities for the future and then linking that to our vision, makes it very clear what is important to us.

3. The act of dreaming provides a focus and direction for us.

4. It also gives a meaning to what we are doing – it inspires us

5. Dreaming can be the kick-start to defining and organising our strategies and plans in a proactive way

Here are some questions to ask yourself to start the dreaming process for your future, but don’t be restricted by them – allow yourself to think bigger, dream bigger.

• What is your purpose – why are you here? What are you really passionate about? Maybe to learn and grow, maybe to help stop world hunger, maybe to be a helpful human being, maybe to contribute to science and research – the options are many, we’re all different and we can all contribute in different ways. It’s not a must to identify a purpose, but those that do find it to be a source of endless inspiration and motivation.

• What does success mean to you? Do you know? If not, you need to. Many people find that they are not as successful as they want to be, but realize that they had never identified for themselves what success means to them – or that they had bought somebody else’s definition of success (without questioning it)

• What do you want to achieve? What’s your vision, your mega-goal, your regular goals, your small goals? Break it down, make it specific.

• Think about how each area of your life is connected – Home, career, charity, business, hobby etc. Are they cooperating with each other, are they supporting and giving leverage to each other?

• Think about the people who can support you! Who are the people in your dream support group? Make sure you connect and exchange with positive, supportive people who can creatively challenge you to achieve what you want – and you can do the same for them.

• What are your key personal strengths that can help you achieve your dream/vision? What talents and characteristics do you possess that can provide the focus, skill and leverage towards your vision? Get to know them, develop them further and make use of them as much as you can.

Start writing all these things down. Cut out pictures from magazines, print pictures you find on the internet. Create a dream board, a vision board that provides the constant visual reminder of what you want.

And when you achieve it, celebrate! And maybe, just maybe, you may have another dream that you want to pursue.

Here’s to your success – whatever that means to you, not others.

About the authors

Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, award-winning authors of ”The Team Formula”.

Their latest book ”Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions” is out now, published by Financial Times International.

Praise for ”Leading Teams: ”This book is a 21st-century guide on how to build a world-class team. I highly recommend it” Steve Siebold, Founder, Mental Toughness University, Florida USA.

www.leadingteamsbook.com

We can and should dare to dream – to really use that power of attraction that strong dreams have on us.

Most organisations have a clear relationship between Vision, Strategies and Plans.

We can do the same for our personal dreams and ambitions. We can work out our:-

• Vision – An aspirational and appealing PICTURE of the future (Dream to help to create it)

• Strategies – A logic for “how “ the vision (dream) can be achieved

• Plans – Specific steps and timetables to implement the strategies

So how does dreaming work for us?

It is simply about allowing ourselves to open up to all sorts of possibilities. Not being constrained by what we have and who we are today. There have been so many great stories in the recent Olympics about how medal winners dreamt of winning in their sport. They dreamt it, and at the time they dreamt it, it may have seemed unrealistic but they held onto their vision/dream of what they wanted to achieve and step-by-step they came closer until the medal was won.

We all have the ability to dream and create our life the way we want it.

Sometimes it seems too out of our reach and that can then hold us back or even stop us. The trick here is to break it down into achievable milestones and take it step-by-step.

So get dreaming. Dream big.

Martin Luther King said “I have a dream!”

He did not say “I have a strategic plan”

The strategic plan comes later though – and we’ll get back to that in a future blog – and get more practical about your dreams.

About the authors

Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, award-winning authors of ”The Team Formula”.

Their latest book ”Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions” is out now, published by Financial Times International.

Praise for ”Leading Teams: ”This book is a 21st-century guide on how to build a world-class team. I highly recommend it” Steve Siebold, Founder, Mental Toughness University, Florida USA.

www.leadingteamsbook.com

1. Take responsibility, it starts with you. People often think knowledge is power and hold onto it rather than give it away. As a leader or a team member, if you want others to share information, you need to be the one that kicks it off. Show you are not afraid to share information and demonstrate that you’re not afraid to give something away.

2. Make people aware of the effect – feedback is essential. Use it to encourage people to realise that what they are doing by sharing is right. Encourage others to share. Also help by letting them know when sharing didn’t happen but would have helped – and why.

3. Everything is about learning so create a learning culture, a culture of “We’re in this to learn”. Make a habit out of thinking that way yourself, create an open, inquisitive mindset. Be eager to learn from others by being interested in what they have to share.

4. Clarify why you are doing something – link it to the bigger picture. The critical part of sharing information is if you understand context. If you understand the “why” and “how” it links to what everyone is doing, you are more likely to get involved. This gets others involved and encourages more sharing.

5. Celebrate success. By celebrating you are sharing something that has worked already. The pace we work at means we don’t always take the time to learn and share from what worked well – and yet, in here lies both learning and a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

6. Dare to share is the hero here. Something very powerful happens when people see someone else dare to share. If they see a team member sharing it can be seen as courageous, it makes them want to follow and do it too. Sharing is contagious.

Behaviour breeds behaviour and disclosure breeds disclosure so give it a go, start sharing more today.

Have the courage and dare to share. No one knows everything and the only way to learn and improve things is to share more.

So get out there and use those meeting moments wisely.

About the authors

Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, award-winning authors of ”The Team Formula”.

Their latest book ”Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions” is out now, published by Financial Times International.

Praise for ”Leading Teams: ”This book is a 21st-century guide on how to build a world-class team. I highly recommend it” Steve Siebold, Founder, Mental Toughness University, Florida USA.

www.leadingteamsbook.com

Once you’re back at work, it’s easy to quickly lose that holiday feeling and that level of energy – and all of a sudden it feels like you’ve not had any holiday at all!

Yes, we’ve been there, we’ve done that – and you probably have too.

But don’t worry.

There are ways to hold on to the benefits of the holiday for longer. Coming back to work is an opportunity for a new start and therefore also new habits.

Here are some habits we’ve found useful when it comes to holding on to the benefits of your holiday:

• Laugh more. Laughing releases endorphins, can reduce stress hormones and boosts your immune system. Besides, it’s supposed to be fun at work.

• Take a walk during your lunch, even if only brief. Get outside, get some fresh air, breathe deeply.

• Connect with people at work. Get to know your colleagues, so that you enjoy spending work time with them (if you don’t already of course!).

• Don’t wait until the weekend or your next holiday to recharge. Find ways of recharging your own “battery” regularly. Ask yourself “what gives me energy?” – and make sure you allow some time for that during your day. This doesn’t have to be at work of course. Take time to see friends or spend time alone, go running or put your feet up – make sure you know what you need.

• Don’t get into the habit of working all hours. Some of the most successful and happy people we have encountered over the years are not those that are always “on” but those who can really focus while at work and equally really focus on being off when they’re off. Working all hours is not a recipe for success.

• Be 100% present. This is easier said than done with all the technical tools at our disposal, constantly vying for our attention – but it can be done. Just focus at what you are doing in the moment; if you’re having a conversation with someone, don’t check your emails at the same time. Or if you are writing a report, don’t talk to your colleague at the same time. Constant re-direction of your focus is a massive time waster (everything takes longer to do this way) and therefore also eats up energy. With focus you get things done quicker, leading to a sense of accomplishment and completion, which produces more mental energy.

So welcome back to work! And don’t forget to have fun.

About the authors

Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, award-winning authors of ”The Team Formula”.

Their new book ”Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions” is out now, published by Financial Times International.

Praise for ”Leading Teams: ”This book is a 21st-century guide on how to build a world-class team. I highly recommend it” Steve Siebold, Founder, Mental Toughness University, Florida USA.

www.leadingteamsbook.com