The Rules: Inspired Solo’s Top 100 Rules to Solo By

What is this? The second entry in our Top 100 Rules for Inspired Solos.

Rule #99: Inspired solos dream big

We’ve all heard the acronym “SMART” by now in reference to goal-setting, right? A quick refresher may be in order:

S — Specific
M — Measurable
A — Use Action Words
R — Realistic and relevant
T — Time-limited

I’d add a sixth requirement — Y for You yearn for it — making the acronym a much more fun “SMARTY.”(I confess I was hoping to turn it into “SMARTASS” but, alas, couldn’t make it work while remaining succinct.)

It’s that sixth requirement I’m talking about when I say “dream big.”

See, while most coaches, consultants, and whatevers focus on the “R” — the realistic — I think there’s a danger in overemphasizing the realistic. Too easily, realistic becomes ridiculously easy and totally uninspiring.

Change, my friends, is hard. And that’s exactly what you do when you begin to launch your solo practice and help it grow — you’re changing the status quo, and that’s never going to be easy. It requires great effort to overcome the present course of motion — remember your Newtonian physics? “Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest.”

What you need is the goal-setting equivalent of a force strong enough to kick that body at rest into orbit. And you don’t get that necessary strength by focusing on realistic goals.

You get it by dreaming big.

What Is “Big Dreaming”?

It’s allowing yourself the freedom to let your mind wander and claim what your heart truly desires. To acknowledge “This, and nothing else — this is what I really, truly want in my heart of hearts” has great power in it.

So, dream of starting an office that grows within ten years to a small boutique that strikes terror in the hearts of tall building law firms all across your state — nay, region!

Or dream of being the caped crusader who fights the big guys and wins — at the Supreme Court.

Whatever your dream is, let it be one that really moves you, inspires you, and makes your blood race just a bit faster.

But Wait: There’s More (There Always Is)

Now, if that’s all there were to it, we’d all just go around dreaming of glory and feeling pretty good that we’re going for it — that is, until we run smack into the glass wall of reality, right?

Unfortunately, you do have to come to earth a bit, but don’t do that until after you come to terms with your big dream. Once you start allowing yourself to “yeah, but”-ing your big dream as you’re dreaming it, you’ll start convincing yourself you really didn’t want it after all. It’s human nature. And before you know it you’ll have talked yourself completely out of it.

So leave the editing and the “hows” for later. First, find a patch of grass, a comfy hammock, a cozy couch, whatever feels good. Lie back. And dream. Dream big.