Have you ever wondered why some people get things done, but are still unhappy?
What about why some people have great dreams, yet don’t seem to bring them to
fruition?
I contemplated this for a while and at first glance, there seems to be two types of
people – The Doer’s and the Dreamers. The Doer’s always ask, “What do I do to
make that happen?” The Dreamer’s first question is “How would that look and feel if
it came to be?”
What I have found is that in most cases both the Dreamers and the Doers come up
short. The Dreamers have the inspiration and the big picture, but no completed
result. The Doers have lots to do and keep busy with tasks, but don’t have
inspiration and often have a lot of things that they have done but do not feel
passionate about.
I personally have always been more of a Dreamer. That big picture strategies have
always been my happy place. Whether I was in a corporate job, consulting, my own
business or creative careers I have always had way more fun and ease in the
planning part than the doing part.
As an entrepreneur I learned the hard way that if I wanted to eat I had to complete.
That meant I had to master both the dreaming and the doing.
When I tried to do both, all by myself, I would procrastinate and run away from the
overwhelm. Since the dreamer part was my happy place, I needed to learn how to
delegate the pieces that would slow me down. Of course there you are always going
to have to do some things that are not fun, especially when it comes to bringing your
big dreams to complete fruition. But there are certainly ways to do this with more
efficiency and ease.
So let’s talk about you! Are you more of a Dreamer or a Doer?
Here are 5 tips that you can use to find balance and get things done that have
passion and purpose in your life.
1. Whether you are a doer or a dreamer, it really is very important to take the
time to connect to your big picture vision.
What is the end result that you truly would be thrilled with?
When you scurry around without a vision it is equivalent to trying to put a
2000 piece jigsaw puzzle together without the picture on the box.
For you Dreamers, this is a no brainer. For you Doer’s give this exercise a try:
Power Plan – Give yourself 20 minutes on a timer. Take out a piece of paper
and write the ultimate outcome you desire. Be detailed, but do not analyze
how you will do it. Just what it will look like in the end.
Now for the most important part of this exercise – Notice how you feel as you
think of your big vision.
If you feel excited, get goose bumps or feel lighthearted, then you are on the
right track. If however, you feel empty or worried that you don’t know how
to do something.” Take a closer look. You may also want to sit with a big
vision person and run your idea by them. They will be able to more easily
expand upon it and help you to see more for yourself than you might be able
to on your own.
2. Dreamers, you more than likely have your dreams in your head. But have you
committed them to paper? By writing it all down you start the
implementation process.
Once you have written your dream down, it is now time to ask the questions
– What would it take to get this done? Come up with a to do list. This is one of
the biggest stopping points for dreamers. Sometimes you don’t know the
steps to get something done and that can shut things down for you. Other
times you know how to do something but feel overwhelmed by all of the
steps.
3. If you don’t know how to do something, it is very easy to misidentify the
inertia as fear. Fear or stubbornness – But it’s actually not knowing how.
Create your itemized list of what it will take to finish and then star all of the
things that you do not know how to do.
4. Delegate!
Once you know what you don’t know, it’s time to be honest with yourself and
say – Is this something I need to learn or is this something an expert can do
for me?
When I was facing the huge undertaking of writing a book, I knew that I was
willing to learn how to write a non-fiction book, but I really did not know
anything about the process. So I took the time to hire people to teach me,
read several books on writing books, went to high quality writer’s retreats,
hired professional editors to help me create something with literary weight
and taught myself to write a book that ultimately got published.
I know that I also want to produce films. But writing a screenplay is a whole
different type of writing, a screen play is a whole other style that I would
prefer to have an expert do for me. So I reached out to my network of writing
friends and found an amazing screen writer to delegate that task to. Now I
can stay involved in the visionary part of the process and he can use his
creative genius make it into a dialogue.
By just the willingness to hire a screenwriter, it cuts years of learning and
perfecting a craft off of my timeline. And the whole process gets really
exciting when I can collaborate with a world class expert.
The key point here is to pick the parts you want to do and delegate the
rest.
5. Do what you are best at and celebrate that you are taking action to complete
your project.
There is often a misconception that when we are focusing on something that
we are passionate about, that we should love all the tasks that go along with
it. This is just not true! There are always going to be parts that we do not like,
or are not suited for, but we need in order to make it to the finish line.
This is where Dreamer’s can hire a Doer to help you. And Doer’s can work
with a Dreamer to get the vision of what you are working for.
Ultimately finding the balance between dreaming and doing is what brings
big success that makes your heart sing. And a happy heart is the greatest
reward ever, isn’t it?
So, tell me, are you a Dreamer or a Doer?
Weigh in the comments below. And feel free to share your tips too!
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