If you’re struggling with turning an idea into reality, it may be in your approach and execution. Most of us think our reality happens to us; when the truth is, we can go far towards creating our reality through conscious, consistent action. We can make our ideas and dreams real.

To make your ideas real, you’ll need to…

Accept That Our Wildest Dreams Rarely Come True By Accident

In order to achieve your dreams, you need to be intentional with everything you do. Sure, some people are just in the right place at the right time, but that’s really a rare opportunity. Most people who achieve their dreams are very intentional about it and work very hard at it.

Remember You’ve Made Your Ideas a Reality Before

You may not realize it, but you’ve actually (whether consciously or not) made many of your thoughts a reality. Take a moment to think about your life. Getting married, having kids, and getting a promotion started with the idea that made you feel a certain way that made you take a specific action, which led to getting the result.

Uncover the Desires and Dreams In Your Heart

Do not indulge in the confusion of going from an idea to a business. Some of us may have a ton of ideas, and for some of us, the idea creation phase of this process will be the most challenging part. But do NOT let yourself say, “I don’t know.” That doesn’t serve you and delays action and progress. If you spend the time to do the work, you’ll come up with some incredible ideas. 

Decide Which Ideas You Want to Make Real

Our brains naturally take in a lot of information and stimuli all day. When you consume a podcast, you may daydream about launching the same type of business as the guest. But then drop that idea altogether when you hear about a friend who works remotely and travels the world. But when figuring out how to execute a business idea, you can’t do it all.

You can’t turn every idea that enters your mind into a reality. Make a conscious decision about which ideas you want to make real and let the rest fall to the wayside.

Define Your Why

Motivation is often fleeting, especially when life gets stressful. You need to know why you want to make these ideas real and focus on that intention. Your “why” might be traveling more, spending more time with your kids, or leaving behind corporate burnout. Whatever the reason, write it down and revisit it regularly to stay focused on the intention behind your ideas. 

Focus Your Thoughts

Part of turning ideas into reality is uncovering the thoughts you need to turn them into reality. To make a big idea real, you’ll need to think about it consciously and intentionally vs. when you’re just letting life happen to you. You’ll need to think about it on purpose. Ask yourself: 

“If I really want to do X, what am I going to need to think about? What am I going to need to do? How is my life going to need to be different?”

“What are my ideas and dreams for my life? And what am I willing to do to make them real?”

“What would I do right now if I completely believed that I would eventually achieve my goal?”

When you do this, you put your brain to work toward solving these questions. 

Realize Evolving is Uncomfortable

Turning new ideas into reality takes work and dedication. It’s also an evolution that sparks growth. You’ll need to be uncomfortable long enough to produce a different result in your life. The more you realize this, the more you know that you get used to this feeling of growth and discomfort. Remember, your brain will try to keep you safe, but staying ‘safe’ and comfortable won’t help you reach your goal. 

Take Consistent, Clear Action

If you want to know how to turn an idea into a business, you need to think about the action you’re taking. Turning ideas into reality takes massive action over passive action. Passive actions are activities like reading books, taking courses, and consuming podcast content. We feel productive but aren’t doing anything that will directly lead us to our goal. Massive action is taking the information we’ve learned and using it to now move closer to our goals. 

Passive action may inspire you, but massive action is about creation, with the key being that you don’t stop until you achieve the results you’re looking for. Passive action might be creating an Upwork profile for your freelance services and waiting for someone to contact you — whereas massive action could be creating that profile, reaching out to your contacts about your new business and applying to listing after listing until you land your very first paying gig. 

Don’t Quit in the Face of Roadblocks or Failures

Here’s the critical difference between those who achieve their goals vs. those who don’t: Those who achieve their goals DO NOT QUIT. If they fall, they get back up and try again or pivot to a different strategy. And if you get back up, you haven’t failed; you’ve just learned. Turning an idea into reality takes hard work. Successful people take that new learning to make themselves more robust and better prepared for the next step of the journey. 

Just keep going. Take action until you get the result you want. Period. 

Remember, you have to work for your dreams. Your dreams don’t magically manifest themselves. It may take you longer to realize your vision and make your idea a reality than you initially thought. This is especially true when you’re figuring out how to execute a business idea.

But if someone told you today that it would take you five years instead of one year to achieve your dream for it to become real, would you give up? No, of course not, because if you want something badly enough, five years is not a long time in the grand scheme of things. It’s a drop in the bucket, and you’ll get there with a bit of patience, a lot of hard work, and plenty of deep emotional work to manage your mind throughout the process.

Realizing that your ideas and dreams are within reach with deliberate focus and action is empowering. It’s not always easy, but it is achievable. So the real question is, are you willing to put in the work and dedication to get there?

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