We often have this feeling of achieving more. Don’t we? We are where we are because we have achieved what we aspire and still we wish to achieve more. Our aspirations do keep us alive. This is certainly not the discontent with our present, but it is often the belief of becoming better.

Yes, we can be happy with our present and yet strive for a better tomorrow. When I say we are striving for a better tomorrow, I mean we are following our dreams. Dreams always play an inspiring role for all of us.  

Dreams can be encouraging for some and demeaning for others.

The synergy of our dream, our journey towards it, the efforts we put in, and the satisfaction after achievement certainly has a dopamine-like effect.  

You might ask, “How can dreams demean us?” This Transformation Tuesday, let us see how.

Imagine we dream. Just “dream” and no action. This will take us nowhere and lead to a feeling of discontent. It will make us more unsatisfied with our present than we were yesterday. This is because we have set our aspirations based on our dream and we are not getting any close to it. This leads to frustration and hence dreams can demean us.

I would now like to assign a more appropriate word for “dream”, and that is “goal”.

A goal is always directed in the right path whereas a dream can be directionless. A goal is something we are acting upon whereas a dream is something we are thinking about. A goal is something we can achieve whereas a dream can be a mere desirable aspiration. A goal will always have a “what to do?”, “how to do?” and “when to do?” whereas dream will only have “what I want?”.

Goals are nothing but dreams put into action. Now how do we do it?

Here is the formula.

PDCA (Plan – Do – Check – Act)

1. PLAN – This may require most of our investment. Planning will include what, how, when, etc. Our goal will also need us to learn new things.

2. DO – It is about bringing our plan into action and performing.

3. CHECK – It is about monitoring the gaps in our plan and actual performance. This will indicate if we are on the right path.

4. ACT – It is about enacting upon the gaps and improving. It is about performing better than yesterday.

The phenomenon of continual betterment eventually helps us achieve our dream. Continual improvement is better than continuous improvement because in some cases, the results might take a while to come to success. This is because continuous improvement emphasizes efforts whereas continual improvement emphasizes results. Continual improvement is all about achieving a better stage, sustaining it for a considerable period before going for the next better stage.

It does not matter how big or small the dream or the goal is. What matters is your urge and willingness to go to whatever extent it takes to achieve it. If you want to change your future, you will certainly have to change the things you do in the present. Your actions should always be in line with your aspirations.

You should ask just one question to yourself, “If I want my future to be different from my present, what have I done today in that direction?”, Dreams do not work unless WE do.

Written by Faber Loukik Dhavan and Compiled by Faber Mayuri Pandya