Week 8 — Testing Your Dream: The Courageous Step From Vision to Reality
Do you know if your dream is truly right for you?
Have you ever felt excited by a vision, only to have doubts whisper when you consider the first step? This tension isn’t a sign to abandon your dream—it’s an invitation to test it.
Testing your dream isn’t about eliminating all uncertainty. It’s the courageous process of discovering if your vision is realistic, deeply meaningful, and authentically aligned with who you are.
Why Testing Is Essential
In my book Your Thoughts Matter, I explain that putting your goals and dreams to the test is a non-negotiable step in the visioning process. The dreams you decide to pursue must be worthy of your time, energy, and life force—they must be deserving of you.
To help with this inner discernment, I often turn to five powerful questions I learned from my mentor, Mary Morrissey. Ask yourself these about any dream you’re considering:
- Does this dream make me feel alive?
- Does it align with my core values?
- Do I need help from a higher power to achieve it?
- Does it require me to grow?
- Does it benefit others?
These questions move your dream from a simple idea to a deeply examined vision. They reveal whether your dream has the depth and authenticity to sustain you through the journey.
While imagining a dream feels wonderful, action is what transforms thought into reality. Testing allows you to uncover hidden obstacles, refine your plans, and build the tangible confidence that comes from progress, not just thought.
The Wisdom of Confident Action
This process is about advancing with intention. As Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden:
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Notice the key words: “advances confidently” and “endeavours to live.” This is the spirit of testing—not reckless leaps, but confident, consistent steps toward living your imagined life.
Your Practice: The Dream Experiment
This week, move from thinking to testing with a simple, powerful experiment:
- Choose One Dream: Select a single goal or vision you’ve been contemplating.
- Design a Small Step: Break it into the smallest, most manageable action you can take within a week (e.g., research a course, have one conversation, create a basic outline).
- Take the Step & Observe: Act. Then, reflect honestly:
- “Did this action feel aligned and energising?”
- “What did I learn about myself, my resources, or the dream itself?”
Learning from the Experiment
The goal of this test is learning, not a perfect outcome. You might discover an adjustment that makes the path clearer and more achievable. You might realise the dream needs to evolve to fit your true desires better. Both outcomes are profound successes.
This is how you build a dream that is resilient and authentic, not just a fantasy. As Mahatma Gandhi powerfully reminded us:
“The future depends on what you do today.”
Your future is built by the small, tested steps you take now.
From Dreaming to Doing
By taking action, you shift your identity from dreamer to builder. You exchange vague hope for clarity, swap doubt for earned confidence, and turn stagnation into momentum. These are the essential ingredients for turning aspirations into your lived reality.
Test your dream. The answer isn’t just in your mind—it’s waiting in your experience.
🙂Prefer to watch?
You can view the companion video on YouTube here.
With warm encouragement,
George Goh
Dream Builder Coach & Author of Your Thoughts Matter
- P.S. Ready to design the perfect experiment for your biggest dream? In a Dreamtirement Session, we empower retirees, those transitioning into retirement, individuals entering new phases of life, and people navigating midlife challenges to create lives they truly love. Together, we’ll identify the most revealing first steps to test your vision’s alignment and build an actionable, confident plan forward.
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