Live What You Love

The 5 D.R.E.A.M. steps will help you in all areas of your life. Whether you’re coping with a divorce, starting a business, trying to lose weight, moving to a new community, or simply trying to spend more time with your family, change is the common denominator and the steps to success are the same.

For years, people have asked us how we’ve managed to follow so many of our dreams. They seem to think we’re magicians. We dream of starting a salad dressing company and, poof, we’re selling dressings to thousands of stores across the country. We dream of living on a tropical island, and shazzam, we have a restaurant on Anguilla. If it were only that simple.

There’s no poof, there’s no shazzam, and we’re not magicians. Passion, commitment, and coming up with a plan make it happen. But when people started asking us for more specific advice about how they too could follow a dream, we thought about the steps we take every time we approach a project, big or small. Whether we want to build a stronger team at work, improve our eating habits, or change careers, the 5 step process is the same.

Although we don’t usually like cute phrases and gimmicky devices, we’ve come up with an acronym for a system that works every time: D.R.E.A.M. The first letter is D for Decide. It’s followed by R for Research, E for Evaluate, A for Act and M for Maintain.

1. Decide what you want to do. Nothing will happen until you make a decision to move forward.
2. Research your options. There are always choices about how to approach any project or change. Doing your homework – research – is critical.
3. Evaluate: How feasible are your goals? Once you know the various options, you can evaluate which feels right for you.
4. Act to make your plan real. Taking action is what it’s all about. Big steps or small, this is where your plan comes to life.
5. Maintain your dream to make sure it lasts.

Check our blog frequently for stories and examples of how versatile the 5 D.R.E.A.M. steps can be. Think of livewhatyoulove.com as a vibrant reading and study group – a place to come together to overcome the fear of change and take control of achieving your goals. And think of us as D.R.E.A.M. -makers. We want you to listen to your instinct, trust your gut, and D.R.E.A.M. to be happy – and always live what you love.