Dreams Versus Goals - How Their Differences Make Them Similar {A Guest Post by Ashley from After Nine to Five}

For a long time I considered myself goal-oriented. I thought I had enough goals that would get me through the end of time. Things like wanting to move someplace warm, working for myself, or finish college with at least a Bachelor's Degree to my name were my long-term goals that always stuck with me. But after a while, I realized my so-called "goals" were nothing more than dreams.

Some would say they are interchangeable - that they are both an objective that you hope to reach at some point in time. But over time, I realized there was a fine line for me. Goals had action plans attached to them. I had a clearly defined path of achieving it and steps to ensure I stayed on track to the best of my ability. My dreams were just that - thoughts of things I hoped to some day do, but had no idea of when or where. They brought me away from reality when I needed a break, but never did much more.

As soon as I realized the difference, I made a lot of my dreams into my goals. I plotted out my journey to move to someplace with a warmer climate and the courses I needed to take to obtain that degree. I marked milestones that I reached along the way to remind myself of the end goal and that it was no longer something I just dreamt about. And while these two goals have yet to be marked as complete, I did something monumental for myself. I made the dream of working for myself become a goal with a clearly lit path, just waiting for me to find the open door. I found it when I was ready with the help of many small goals along the way and can proudly say that I did it: I made a dream into my reality.

For me, my dreams will never be accomplished unless they turn into a goal. Unless they become that well-defined, thought out objective that I intend to follow from start to finish to see it through. So I'm sure to keep plenty of both goals and dreams - short-term and long-term. The goals keep me busy, leaving something to strive for and something I'm yearned to complete. But the dreams leave me wanting more from a world that I can't seem to get enough of.

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Jen here...I just wanted to say, that I love this way of looking at things!  Really, the only way to make your dreams a reality is to turn them into goals....totally makes sense!

Ashley and I stumbled on each other through the blogging network, and became fast friends.  I'm so lucky to call this lovely lady my friend.  Thanks so much, Ashley!

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