What If You Don't Want To Dream Big

What If You Don't Want To Dream Big

You see it all over the internet, on coaching sites, blogs, rubber stamps and even on art journal pages. Everyone is always telling you to dream big. So what’s wrong with dreaming big. Some of us can dream big and have not any problems creating and following a dream.  Some times we need a push so we hire a coach to get us moving.

For others I think it can be scary,  a big dream has big responsibilities, big steps to take. Some may thrive on that but for others it can cause additional fear and it can stop you in your tracks. It might be just too scary to pursue that big dream so you just let it slide. The dream comes back though and you may work on it a little bit more. The scope of it always makes you stop and give up.  This helps no one. I think we need to step back from Big Dreams and look at them in another way.

What if your dream is small, does that make it any less important well of course not.  Many women I work with don’t have a big dream.  They may have a kernel, a tiny thing, that sets their heart on fire.  It might turn into a big dream but looking it at it that way, it never has time to grow. Dreams need to be nurtured especially when they are small.  So how do you nurture a dream. I think you do this by going slow, by taking small steps.  The coaching model I use Kaizen-Muse Creativity coaching focuses on small steps to reach real goals.

So how do you take a small dream and nurture it and follow through with it and make it real. Say your dream is to be a full time artist. Now that is a big dream and has that to a small dream you could change that dream “Have your art hanging at a venue in your town.”  

What are some small steps you might take to make that happen. The following are some things you might choose to do.

1. Check with local galleries, coffee shops, hair salons and other places where you see art being Get on their waiting list to show your work. In my town a local coffee shop has a 2 year wait. There are lots of things you can be doing while you wait your turn.

2. Create a body of work to hang in the place you’ve chosen. You might choose a theme for your work or you might not.  When you know the size of the venue, that will give you an idea of how many pieces you will need.

3. If the place is big, you could find another artist to do this with. Contact artist friends to see who might be interested.

4. Design place cards for your work and make them while you are working on your art. Then there won’t be a mad dash before the show.

5. Create a post card announcing the show that you can mail out and give to friends.

6. Create an artist statement/bio that you can display at the venue when your show is hanging.

7. Search for a dynamite outfit to wear at your shows opening.

I would break the steps down even smaller. Small Steps are really small.  You are not limited to just doing the first small step though.  You can see it as a starting point.  For step 1 it could be as simple as going out for coffee. While out for coffee you can be looking to see if the place has art on the walls. You can see how that breaks down a step of looking everywhere for a venue to just a small step that is easy to do. Break down all your steps in this way and you'll find you are getting those tasks done faster. The next time you hear anything about a big dream, know that you now have some tools to break it down and make it manageable.

This is the first in a series of articles I'll be doing on following your dreams. They'll be posted here and in my newsletter, so sign up in my sidebar so you don't miss any of them.