The Goal Setting Guide: Dreamlining

I was introduced to the idea of dreamlining by Tim Ferriss when I read his anecdote about the fat man in the red BMW convertible (an example of what he could be like if he continued to follow his career path)

Could you really stand to be in the same position as your boss in 15-20 years time? A symbol of mediocrity with a 3 bedroom house in suburbia, 2.4 children and a small family saloon. Stuck in your middle management job and going no where. Trust me that idea scares the hell out of me. This is why I became a lifestyle designer and why I remind myself everyday to never “accept reality”. This is why I use dreamlining.

Strictly speaking dreamlining is not goal setting. It differs in a few ways…

1. The goals shift from wants to defined steps
2. The goals MUST be unrealistic to be effective
3. It focuses on activities that fill the vacuum created when work is removed or reduced should you wish (who doesn’t!)

I am going to help you do what you never thought possible. What you dreamed of when you were young but as you grew up realised was ‘not possible’. I am going to help you dreamline. It’s not going to be easy but it will be worthwhile. To start with I recommend you download my dreamlining template and my expenses calculation form to help you out.

What Would You Do if You Couldn’t Fail?

Imagine if you were the smartest person in the world. Think how much you’d do now knowing you couldn’t fail.

Create two timelines, one for six months and one for twelve (there is a template here) and list up to five things you dream of for the following categories…

Having – Including but not limited to material wants eg. cars, houses etc.
Being – Eg. being a great cook, fluent in a language or a world champion.
Doing – Eg. Visiting Australia, racing motorbikes or running the marathon.

If you have difficulty identifying what you want in some categories, as some will consider what you hate or fear and write down the opposite. Make sure you don’t limit yourself or worry about how you will achieve these dreams. For now it doesn’t matter. It’s also important not to fool yourself. I love cars and dream of owning an Aston Martin so I put it down rather than putting down removing aids from Africa out of guilt. It doesn’t matter what you want as-long as it is what you really want. Be it fame, fortune or prestige get it all down.

If your still drawing a blank consider the following questions…

• What would you do day to day if you had £50 million in the bank.
• What would make you most excited to wake up tomorrow morning.

What are the Four Dreams that Would Change it All?

On both the six and twelve month timeline highlight the four dreams that are most interesting, exciting and would make the most difference to your life.

Discover How Much Your Dreams Cost and Your Target Monthly Income (TMI)

If financeable, how much does it cost per month to achieve your dreams. (eg rent, mortgage, monthly payments etc) If you start to think of income and expenses as monthly cash-flow instead of grand totals you’ll likely find things often cost a lot less than expected. For example my dream of owning an Aston Martin. A brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage normally costs £90,341 but I can drive one away for as little as £1,542 a month.

So let us calculate your Target Monthly Income (TMI) to help you achieve your dreams. Firstly find the total for each of the rows counting only the four selected dreams. It doesn’t matter if some of these rows total zero. Next add your total monthly expenses x 1.3 (30% buffer for savings and unexpected costs) This grand total is your TMI target. Your calculation should look like the following.

Column A + Column B + Column C + (1.3 x Monthly Expenses) = TMI

You could take this further and divide your TMI by 30 to get you Target Daily Income to give yourself a goal for the day.

If all this seems a little complicated please look at my examples here. You can also use the templates to do your own dreamlining. I find dreamlining particularly useful to give targets and show that dreams are easier to achieve than first expected. I hope it can help you in the same way. As usual please leave comments or email me if you have any questions on dreamlining and it’s best practices – oli@oligibson.com