I got the most adorable email from one of my Get Out Of Your Own Way students the other day, and I just had to share it with you.

I just read my Daily Flame email today and at the bottom, you've go a blurb promoting Barbara Stanny's Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan To A Richer Life.

When I first glanced at it, I read it as Overcoming Underdreaming... interesting :) I just thought I'd share this with you because it seemed so fitting.

Interesting, indeed!  Her email inspired me to write a post for those who want to overcome underdreaming!

Another student, who is trying to decide where in the world she wants to settle down, agreed. “Yeah, I have the same problem. Why can’t I dream of having three home bases?”

Because so many women tend to underdream, I included a whole module in the Get Out Of Your Own Way e-course about how to dream big, but this has brought up some angst from students who say they’re having a hard time dreaming big.

Here’s an excerpt from that module.

7 Barriers That Prevent You From Dreaming Big

1. You lack practice at dreaming big. Dreaming big is a muscle that must get exercised in order to function properly. If you’ve never let yourself charge, unthrottled, into the fully formed fantasies of your imagination, you’ll wind up fidgeting and coming up empty when you’re invited to dream big.
2. You lack confidence. You don’t trust your ability to create the life you desire, so you protect yourself by not dreaming.
3. You’re too practical. You’ve lost your ability to engage in child-like fantasies, a skill we all master as kids and often lose as adults.
4. You’ve internalized the criticisms of others. If you’re surrounded by people who cut you down, dismiss you, and lack faith in you, it’s no wonder your dreaming big muscle is weak.
5. You don’t believe you deserve to have your real dreams come true. If you hold limiting beliefs about your worth and value, you will find it very hard to dream big.
6. You fear failure or the sting of disappointment. If you dream big, you risk having your real dreams fizzle. If your real dreams fizzle, you may get bummed out. So you may avoid dreaming big just to protect yourself from disappointment.
7. You worry about what everybody will think. If you dream big -- and then you tell everyone, perhaps they’ll shoot you down. They’ll make fun of you. They’ll dismiss your real dreams. They’ll tell you you’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, talented enough, driven enough. Ouch. No wonder you don’t dream big.

One student said:

I’m afraid to dream big, because what if my dream doesn’t come true? Will I live the rest of my life feeling disappointed?

Recognizing how much resistance people have to dreaming big, I’m inspired to start a whole series about Overcoming Underdreaming!

So I’ll be offering you one tip on how to overcome each of these seven barriers in each post. So here’s your Dreaming Big tip for today from the Get Out Of Your Own Way e-course.

Dreaming Big 1: You lack practice at dreaming big.

Practice makes perfect, baby! The more you dream, the easier it gets. The more you exercise this muscle, the stronger you get. And the more you practice dreaming big, the more you’ll notice that you’re ramping up your real dreams. Get greedy. Pull out all the stops. Give yourself permission to want whatever the hell you want.

Once you start dreaming, find a partner. Speak your dreams out loud. Invite your partner to do the same. Having your dreams witnessed and bearing witness to someone else’s dream is very powerful. If you’re not sure who to choose as your partner, join the Dreaming Big posse in the Owning Pink Posse, where you can meet others who are committed to dreaming big. Send a message to the group, telling them you’d love to find a Dreaming Big partner, and someone will raise their hand and volunteer to skip-to-my-lou off into the sunset with you.

So go now! Start practicing! And for more tips on how to practice dreaming big, sign up for the Get Out Of Your Own Way e-course and join the other students who are skyrocketing to the stratosphere with me!

Encouraging you to practice dreaming big,

Lissa

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, Pink Medicine Woman coach, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.