While sitting here at my kitchen table for the past 5 months diving into my "soloprenuer" life, I’ve fallen in love with this little two-word question: What if?

What if I can really do this? What if this works?

What if it really is possible to live your dream?

I'm starting to think this whole "launching a new company thing" just might work. But that's my dream, what about yours? I know you've got one!

We all have a big dream hiding within us somewhere. I think the difficulty comes when we try and translate these big dreams into manageable goals to work on every day, every week, every month. Why do we get stuck here? I mean really, we say it's a dream, why don't we just go after it?

Because it’s darn scary.

My friends, setting goals doesn’t have to be scary and it certainly doesn't have to be paralyzing.

If you think about it, we do it every day in some capacity. For example, do you run? If you do, then you know that there’s only one way to finish: step by step. The steps add up to feet, the feet turn into miles, the miles tick by until you’re done. Or do you read? Well, if you're trying to finish a long book, you read one sentence, then one page, then one chapter at a time until you reach the back cover. Simple no-brainer stuff.

Setting (and reaching) goals for our big, amazing dreams isn’t much different. Success lies in our ability to take small steps repeatedly over time.

Here are 5 tips to get you from dreaming to living:

+ Mind Map It - Have you ever done a mind map? Where you put a topic in the center of the page (one like "launch own business") and then draw lines from the center outward, writing the words and topics that come to your mind. Think of it as one big brain dump to get the idea from your head to the paper.

+ Make a List - Once you have your brain thoroughly dumped, then make a list of one area at a time. If you want to leave your job to start your own company, and one of the arms of your mind map is "create website", then start a list of the things you'll need to do to dig in: buy url, research competitor sites for ideas, ask around for designer recos and so on.

+ Enroll a Friend - Friends can be a catalyst to getting any goal achieved. They are your cheerleaders, your accountability partner, your devil's advocate all rolled into one. And partnering with someone who shares a common goal makes everything in the process better.

+ Begin with the End in Mind - It helps to envision a successful end when you are just starting. Remind yourself why you want to go after this goal, what it's gonna feel like when you complete it. Why Power is a lot stronger than Will Power.

+ Be Patient - This isn't a one day thing. Accomplishing anything worthwhile takes time. Have patience with the process and have patience with yourself.

Setting goals doesn't have to be scary and doesn't have to be paralyzing. These 5 tips can get you taking tiny steps, all in the right direction. And, what if it works?

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