{"id":229,"date":"2020-12-02T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T02:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2021-08-29T12:20:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T02:20:02","slug":"clearing-out-the-old%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aletting-go-of-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/clearing-out-the-old%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aletting-go-of-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Clearing Out The Old\u200a-\u200aLetting Go of\u00a0Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>Last week I <a href=\"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/clearing-out-the-old%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aletting-go-of-things\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CIFz5DyjsXc\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spoke<\/a> about letting go of things and in continuing the theme of clearing out the old, this week I want to talk about letting go of something, that perhaps weighs us down even more than just mere physical stuff. It is one of those things that, again much like tangible stuff, we keep on adding to our lives without regularly reflecting upon and letting go of and I am certainly guilty of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Letting go of&nbsp;dreams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, this is not your usual advice and runs contrary to what you hear pretty much everywhere else, \u2018Follow your dreams\u201d or \u201cYour dreams will one day come true\u201d and other similar maxims. I say; Let go of the dreams that don\u2019t serve you any more. Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you had a dream of starting your own business or becoming a world-class swimmer, cricketer or a concert pianist at age 6\/8\/15 or at any time really, yet at age 30\/40\/50 if you haven\u2019t actually done much about it\u200a\u2014\u200ait is time to seriously assess this dream. The key criteria here being\u200a\u2014\u200ainaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Is it just a dream, or is it an actual actionable, achievable goal?<\/li><li>Have you given yourself a timeline?<\/li><li>What steps do you need to take in order to make it a reality?<\/li><li>Have you equipped with the right tools, training, skills and surrounded yourself with the right people?<\/li><li>Why have you been carrying the said dream for \u2018X\u2019 years and not taken action?<\/li><li>What is holding you back?<\/li><li>Are you actually going to do anything about it? Or just bask in the proverbial sunshine of \u2018one day\u2019 achieving this dream?<\/li><li>Maybe you just like the idea of it and not actually working on it or achieving it? Yes, that\u2019s a thing.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Time to ask yourself these hard questions\u200a\u2014\u200aand only you have the answer. <strong>Don\u2019t let the wrong dreams become your anchors and prevent you from sailing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contrary to popular belief, life is not about constant additions. As you age you will realise that simplification, removal and elimination leads to a far simpler, easier and happier life and this applies to every aspect of life\u200a\u2014\u200anot just physical stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you accumulate more and more tangible stuff you will realise that it starts to weigh you down\u200a\u2014\u200amentally and physically, similarly, accumulation of dreams, goals hope and aspirations, that you don\u2019t act upon, will also weigh you down.&nbsp;<br>Either take action and bring them to fruition or get rid of them. Don\u2019t let them fester and turn sour. They will make you bitter and resentful. They will hinder you from being happy for others and most importantly, obsessing over a wrong dream will prevent you from taking action and grabbing an actual opportunity that presents itself because you will not be in the right mindset and will not be looking in the right direction.&nbsp;<br>Check out Denzel Washington\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2671706\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fences<\/a> and you will you know exactly what I mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I suggested with physical stuff, have a regular reflection practice and assess all your dreams and goals and ditch the ones that are not serving you any more <a href=\"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/why-everyone-needs-a-self-reflection-practice\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Read my post on regular reflection)<\/a>.&nbsp;<br><strong>No point carrying around the burden of lost opportunities and failed endeavours where you could be focusing your energy on something better.<\/strong> Similarly, no point expanding your energy in a multitude of directions when you could be focusing on a narrow few and making great progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Try the famous 5\/25 strategy by Warren&nbsp;Buffet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>List down 25 goals that you would like to accomplish in your life\/career. Nothing is off the table. Take your time and be thoughtful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Review your list and circle your top 5.&nbsp;<br>Yes, just 5 out of the 25. These are your most urgent goals and highest priorities to focus on. This may require even more time and thoughtfulness than listing the 25 goals, so again, take your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you are following along, please complete steps 1 and 2 before moving forward.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 3<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>You will essentially have 2 lists at this point.&nbsp;<br>List A with 5 goals and List B with 20 goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you might be thinking: \u201cWell, the top 5 are my primary focus, but the other 20 come in a close second. They are still important so I\u2019ll work on those intermittently as I see fit. They are not as urgent, but I still plan to give them a dedicated effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To this Buffett would reply, \u201cNo. You\u2019ve got it wrong. Everything you didn\u2019t circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you\u2019ve succeeded with your top 5.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was the actual exercise Buffet ran and the exact words he used with his pilot of 10 years Mike Flint. Read the full story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/warren-buffetts-pilot-revealed-the-billionaires-prioritization-trick-2017-11?IR=T\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesclear.com\/buffett-focus\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Building upon the maxim of Letting Go of Dream, this teaches us the power of focus and elimination. Your time and efforts are limited; don\u2019t just keep adding more and more\u200a\u2014\u200alearn to eliminate, learn to replace and learn to have laser focus.<\/p>\n<div class=\"love\"><input  id=\"post_229\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"LoveCheck\"\/>\n                <label for=\"post_229\" class=\"dashicons dashicons-heart LoveLabel\" aria-label=\"like this\"><\/label><span class=\"LoveCount\">1<\/span><\/div><!--\/love-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I wrote and spoke about letting go of things and in continuing the theme of clearing out the old, this week I want to talk about letting go of something, that perhaps weighs us down even more than just mere physical stuff. It is one of those things that, again much like tangible &#8230; <a title=\"Clearing Out The Old\u200a-\u200aLetting Go of\u00a0Dreams\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/clearing-out-the-old%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aletting-go-of-dreams\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Clearing Out The Old\u200a-\u200aLetting Go of\u00a0Dreams\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Clearing Out The Old\u200a-\u200aLetting Go of\u00a0Dreams Page 1 of 2","_seopress_titles_desc":"Are you holding onto too many dreams, goals, hopes and aspirations? Too many will weigh you down. It is time to reflect and let go of some.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naimatahmed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}