This morning as I was taking out the garbage I glanced at our cars in the driveway and thought about how Bodie wants to get a new car this year and then thought about how I’d love to upgrade to a bigger car too. Immediately that funny little thought I’m sure many of us have of “I wish I could win the lottery” came up. How amazing it would be to come into a windfall of money to upgrade our home and cars and closets and more, right?

And then I laughed not because it is a far fetched idea but because I don’t know if I have ever even bought a lottery ticket! How could I be wishing to win the lottery when I don’t even play?!

I mean, I know it was just a silly thought about winning that many of us flippantly say but seriously! It woke me up to taking even more action in my life.

What am I wishing for, dreaming of, creating possibilities for but not putting action into?

I do have a goal of being able to buy a new suv in cash by the end of 2019 and I have a vision for how to make that happen.. But I honestly  have no idea what kind of SUV I would get, besides wanting it to have a third row option and be somehow better on gas and the environment. 

As for the vision of how to make the money to make this dream come true, I have the vision but also now realize I haven’t acted on this particular career vision at all besides thinking it.  Maybe because the goal still seems far away? Maybe because I see this happening after I make some other goals come true?

But, today I thought. What would it hurt to look at SUVs. I don’t even know how much they cost! I don’t even know if I did “win the lottery” which one I would buy. I don’t know which is the safest. 

Life with two kids that aren’t in school yet, a traveling other half and a badass business is full. I have lists and notepads and planners and journals and apps filled with ideas and desires and will dos.  I always have plenty of things to fill my time so it’s not like I have hours to research a car, but I know it will work to my benefit big picture and on a daily basis to be even more intentional with my desires to have a clear vision of this SUV that I am buying in cash by the end of 2019.

To name what I do want and find weekly ways to make movement towards them, even if that just means spending 15 minutes a week researching dream SUVs will serve me and motivate me. By doing even the smallest thing towards that vision I am making my dream a future reality and not a far fetched I wish that I could win the lottery (without even playing).

You could call this manifesting my future.  It is, but I do think this word to “manifest” can create some confusion and it can be bit overused without fully grasping what it is and why and how to do it.

To manifest something doesn’t just mean you think something into action.  It doesn’t mean to cut out pictures and paste them on a vision board and then do nothing else but watch it come to life without taking any action.

I’ve been nicknamed sista manifesta and a range of other names with manifester plugged in to it. And while I felt endeared by those names as it meant my friends acknowledged me for making my dreams and visions come true it also kind of felt like I didn’t do any work. I just said it and poof it magically happened for me.

Thinking your dreams into reality is only possible if your actions match up to it. You can’t sit around dreaming to be a successful singer songwriter but not write or sing songs. Or by not sharing them with anyone. 

Whatever it is that you want. Whomever it is that you want to be. Step into it. Claim it as yours. Write it out, cut out a picture of it, talk about it, envision that your dream is also your reality…do all of that!

 But also get into action!

Go buy that lottery ticket! Or quit dreaming about winning it!

Small steps are steps.  Baby steps are steps.  Any action IS action!

What are you wishing for that you aren’t making any steps towards?

COME HANG WITH ME!