Dream Big - Work Small

Tip #24 - Dream Big. It is fine to have big dreams. Dreams that one day you will own your home. Dreams that one day you will have a boat. Dreams that one day you will retire without worrying about money. It is good to have dreams. Dreams are goals. Goals that you set for yourself in your mind. Don't dream that one day you will win the lottery. That is a fantasy - not a dream.

The way to make your dreams real is to work at it. If you dream to own your home one day, then start saving for it today - even if that savings is one dollar. If you dream for a boat then start saving for it. If you dream about retiring someday then start planning for it. It takes a first step and small steps along the way to make that dream a reality.

In Real Life (IRL) - I dream about retiring early - hopefully when my kids are finished with college. I have started to work on attaining that dream. I've saved money from each paycheck. I've put away money for my kids' college account. And I've worked it that we will be done paying our mortgage before the kids go off to college. By the time they are done school, we should be okay to retire. I didn't do this by winning the lottery. I didn't do this by making a big sale on ebay. And I didn't do this by being handed a trust fund. I started saving when I was young. I bought a house in a good neighborhood and I scrimped on frivolous things like eating out and designer clothes. By working these small steps, I am able to dream big.

Another person had a dream. He dreamed that "...that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King's dream came true yesterday. And it was a big dream. It didn't come easily. There were baby steps along the way. But when Barack Obama, an African-American was elected as the President of the United States, Martin Luther King's dream of social justice came true. If his lofty dream can come true, yours can, too. It just takes work.