Permission To Want More | Ignite | What’s Your Dream?
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
Permission To Want More
Dreams are often treated as childish, unrealistic, or indulgent, when in truth they can be one of the clearest signals of who we are and what matters to us.
What holds many people back is not only the size of the dream, it is everything that surrounds it. We stop ourselves before we begin. We question whether we are allowed to want it. We doubt whether it is possible for someone like us. We keep it private in case it sounds foolish. We focus on how far away it feels instead of what one small step towards it might look like.
Very often, the dream is not the problem, it’s everything that surrounds the dream. It helps to understand the difference between dreams and goals.
Dreams are expansive. They are often unstructured, imaginative, and not yet fully formed. They don’t need a plan to exist. They show us what we are drawn towards.
Goals are different. They bring shape, structure, and movement. They translate a dream into something we can act on, through clear steps, decisions, and consistency.
Dreams without goals can stay as ideas. Goals without dreams can lose meaning. They work best together - the dream sets the direction while the goal creates the path.
In a business, the equivalent of a dream is the vision. A vision is not a target or a number, it is a picture of a future that does not yet exist, but that people can see, feel, and move towards together. It gives meaning to the goals, context to the strategy, and energy to the work.
Without vision, businesses can become efficient but directionless. Without goals, vision remains words on a page. Vision and goals need each other in the same way dreams and action do. One creates possibility, the other creates progress.
Dreaming asks something of us:
to imagine beyond our current evidence
to believe before we have proof
to speak something out loud before it feels safe
to move before we feel fully ready
to notice progress before the whole thing is complete
Big things are rarely reached in one leap. They are reached through permission, belief, honesty, movement, and momentum. Sometimes the first brave act is not achieving the dream - it is admitting there is one.
ENERGY
Focusing on an emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Ignite
Ignite comes from the Latin ignire, meaning to set alight. It is the moment something moves from idea to energy. A dream on its own can sit quietly, but it needs a form of ignition to bring it to life.
It is the spark that turns possibility into movement.
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Make It Real
Write down one dream you have been keeping too quiet, even from yourself. Being able to write it down is the first step in making it real. Then move it one step closer to ignition:
What does this look like as a goal?
What is one small step you can take this week?
If you’re thinking in a business context:
What is the business dream - the vision?
What is one goal that would bring that vision to life?
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“What was I taught about having dreams in my early years - and how has this shaped me since?”
Our relationship with dreams rarely starts in adulthood, it is shaped early, through what we heard, saw, were told, and experienced. Whether dreaming was encouraged or dismissed, ambition was supported or made to feel unrealistic, and playing safe was praised more than exploring possibility.
Sometimes the messages could have been explicit or perhaps they were subtle. Over time, those early signals can become internal rules that propel us forwards, or tether us. Being more aware about this can help us to pause and question how it serves our current and future life path.
This question will be added to the Community Space in the Leapers Club for you to share your thoughts.
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition, my gratitude or to be celebrated.
Explanations
Have you ever had an ongoing ailment that only started to feel better once it was explained, even before it was fixed? Understanding through an explanation can create a significant part of the relief. It gives shape to what felt uncertain, and creates a place to begin. I had this happen with technology recently - and once I had the explanation and could understand ‘why’, everything felt better!
Live Leaps Virtual Event:
Balance is Not What You Think
Overview:
Most people are trying to fix “balance” by managing time. This session reframes balance as something deeper, across the different parts of your life. You’ll explore where you may be under or overcompensating, and what true balance actually looks like for you.
Who It’s For:
Anyone feeling stretched, stuck, or slightly off, even if things look fine on the surface.
When:
Wednesday, Jun 24th (12:00 PM - 01:00 PM BST)
Click to register
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
This week’s little extra for you - from me.
This week’s gift for you is a visual from a book I was inspired to read after seeing numerous Instagram posts from the author, Simon Squibb, asking people about their dreams. This is What’s Your Dream?
The offer (below) is available to you for free (for 7 days) using the code: DREAM when you check out. Access is via the link / button below.
Please note that if you miss the 7 day offer, we can not extend this for you. You can, however always access the download for a nominal charge.
Invisible Influence visual synopsis
The artwork featured in this section is all copyrighted and for private use only. If you wish to use these online, in blogs / features or in presentations etc - we are happy to discuss licences. Please get in touch. The downloads do not have watermarks.
If you’d like to discuss having your ideas, business or culture captured visually - you can also let me know via email.
LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
