How many times have you bumped into an old school friend or someone you once worked with and walked away feeling like you totally ‘missed the boat’ when that old friend told you how wonderful their life is? I can certainly think of a number of times when I felt a sense of despair from an encounter like this.

A few years ago I organised a High-School reunion for my senior year class. We all got together and had a big ‘catch-up’ session on the previous 25 years. Some of my old classmates painted a pretty rosy picture of their lives and the stories they told sounded pretty attractive. No doubt a number of people went away from that week-end encounter wishing they could re-wind the clock and start out in a different direction that was more like someone else’s.

Now weather the stories our old friends want us to believe are actually true or not in these encounters, the feelings of inadequacy and failure can be pretty hard to bear at the time. As I said, I usually wanted to do something drastic to try and pursue the life my old friends convinced me they were living when these encounters happened to me.

However, the danger in situations like this is that you could totally ‘drop the batten’ and really make life hard for yourself. Imagine what your life would end up like if you jumped ship every time someone convinced you that they were doing better then you! Remember the race between the tortoise and the hare! The tortoise won purely by being consistent! It’s hard to keep your nerve and stick to your plan when there are temptations and distractions that could easily lure you into changing directions. That’s why the hare lost the race. He was all over the place with no consistency or direction.

Imagine the farmer who changed crops every time he met another farmer who convinced him that the demand for a different crop is about to explode. He would never achieve anything. He would be continually re-tooling, purchasing different fertilizing and harvesting equipment, starting all over again with his knowledge, experience and understanding of the techniques to get the best yield. Consider the university student who changes courses every term because someone convinces her that there will be more money to be earned or more enjoyment to be experienced in a different profession.

Yes it is sometimes hard to keep your nerve and stick to your game plan, but success will surely follow if you do. I have a belief that anyone could complete school and begin their own business based on an idea or passion and make a successful enterprise out of it if they just stick to their original big picture and fine-tune it every time something doesn’t seem to be working. Sooner or later enough experience and skill will be in the right place to make a successful business. Sure there will be mistakes along the way but there is no reason why the idea should not be successful if passion, consistent energy and thought are applied.

Time and consistency will nearly always beat chance.

Now if you’re saying to yourself at the moment “I’ve been hard at it, doing what I’m doing for 50 years and my business or my life is anything but successful and I’m still waiting”, then you also need to be aware that although consistency is an important ingredient in succeeding, this does not mean never changing direction.

You must constantly be seeking better ways to do things and not relentlessly doing what you have always done while expecting a different outcome.

I titled this article, "Don't bail out on your dreams". Dreams are so necessary in achieving anything. You must see something in your minds eye before you can achieve it and then you must take consistent action towards achieving that dream. An important ingredient in success is to constantly go back to your dream and place yourself in it. See yourself succeeding. See yourself reaping the rewards of that success. I will challenge anyone who says they achieved anything worthwhile that they never dreamt of first.

Often you will find your dreams grow as you achieve little successes towards achieving them. This is because your belief grows as your dreams come closer. In fact, a snowballing effect is produced. You dream - you have some success - as a result your belief grows and so your dream grows bigger and stronger. This causes you to achieve more success and your belief grows stronger. The cycle repeats over and over, compounding as it goes. This can cause an explosion of success as you consistently stay focused on achieving your dream. Can you imagine what would happen if you kept changing the picture to another dream or goal? Don't bail out on your dreams!

There is one thing that I believe holds so many people back and causes them to 'bail-out' (or worse still, never even get in the boat) and that is the idea that they are not good enough or that they would have to be better to succeed at something. Too many people think they would have to do everything 'just right' and that they might get started but then make a mistake and mess it all up. Let me assure you that absolutely nobody ever succeeded perfectly! Nobody knows what is going to happen for sure! The only thing that you need once you have your dream is movement! Do something - anything, as long as it seems like it will take you in the general direction of your dreams!!!

I have made the mistake of withdrawing back into my shell many times thinking that the next move towards my dreams is so important that I just have to get it right or it will be the end of everything. When I did this I just stopped dead in my tracks until I stepped back onto the playing field and did something. Opportunities have emerged out of left field just because I was in the game and not because I was playing the perfect game.

So, I want to challenge you to dream of something you want to achieve. I want to encourage you to do anything at all that might look like it will get you moving in that direction. I want you to understand that everyone will tell you how much better their life is going than yours is (so just ignore their stories whether they are true or not) and I want you to go for your dreams and never give up. You are unique and trying to follow the success stories of other people will not work for you. You will succeed in your own way.

Dream big dreams - you can make them come true.

P.S. If your dream is to finally take control of your finances it must be time you made the decision to purchase a copy of my Simply Budgets software. I am amazed by the number of people who tell me that they had been reading my newsletters and my Hints and Tips for ever but had just never gotten around to ordering a copy. Then when they did order a copy and started using it they regretted waiting so long!

To order a copy now Click Here.