Everyone has their own dreams... mine is to be supported by my writing. Yours may be something completely different... it may be to travel the world, be a professional chef, or something else. You probably even have more than one dream... I wouldn't mind traveling the world, too.
There are a lot of individual steps to making your dream come true, of course, but those will vary depending upon what your specific dream happens to be. There are four key components, however, that are part of making any dream come true.
These four things will help you to make your dream real, and will help you with most other aspects of your life at the same time. They may come naturally to you, or you may have to work at adopting them, but once they become part of the way you approach the world, you will notice that things just start happening more easily.
So, on to the actual list...
How To Make Your Dreams Come True
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Sharing
The first key is to share your dreams with others. This helps to make it more real and more conscious for you, making you more likely to notice opportunities related to it. It also helps to remind you that it is there, and that it is something you are working toward... so that you don't let your dreams die.
Besides helping you to be more conscious of it, sharing your dreams with someone can also make them feel included in that dream, making them far more likely to want to help you achieve it. It makes them feel that by helping you, they are helping something that they are part of succeed, like they have partial ownership. How much more likely would that make you to help someone that you know?
And just think, even if someone likes you for other reasons and would be more than willing to help you, they can only do so by accident if they don't know what it is that you want. When you do open up and share your dreams with them, they can actively do things to give you a helping hand.
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Networking
Building on the first key, the second key is networking (and not the kind dealing with computers). Networking refers to keeping in contact with people that you meet, people with whom you connect. When you stay in contact, and check in on them from time to time, you keep that connection alive and you keep yourself in their thoughts, if something were to come up that they relate to you.
For instance, with my particular dream, if I were to stay in contact with someone, and they happened to make friends with someone high up at a magazine or newspaper, they might suggest to that person that they read my articles, or even directly that they should consider having me write columns for their publication. If I hadn't stayed in contact, then that person likely wouldn't have thought of me, and so that opportunity would never have come along.
Here's my confession: This is my weak point. I moved around a lot as a child, and I developed the habit of letting people go easily. This is a place where putting some time and energy into changing myself would probably really pay off.
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Persistence
The third key to making your dreams come true is persistence... most likely it will take a fair amount of time to make your really big dreams come true. You will need to have the persistence to see you through until that time, persistence in sharing your dreams, networking, openness... and persistence in just continuing through life's ongoing costs and opportunities until you make it through.
Keep in mind, though, that there is a difference between persistence and stubbornness... don't just keep doing something that doesn't work without a reason to believe something will change. Persistence is continuing in spite of obstacles, not just continuing blindly.
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Openness
The final key is openness... being open to seeing opportunities that might take you in the general direction of your dreams, without being on the direct path. This might be something like me going to a conference for authors and publishers, where I might meet someone who could eventually help me to get a deal to write a book, or a syndicated column.
It might also be being open to making a friend somewhere that you might not ordinarily look for one... perhaps when you meet, in passing, a friend of a friend, or someone from your significant other's family. It might be that you are open to everyone, and are friendly to someone at a key moment in their life, and that person might eventually be the person who brings your dream to you.
It might also be that you help someone achieve their own dream, without looking for anything in particular in return... just being open to whatever might come your way.
Whatever life may throw your way, when you close up, you cut off opportunities for your dreams to come true. It is natural to mentally curl up and try to protect the injured part of you, but that reaction is more often harmful than helpful over the long run.
If you can learn these things, or if they come naturally to you, you'll likely find success in whatever it is that you do. They don't guarantee instant success, the instant fulfillment of all your dreams... they provide the tools to build the framework upon which success hangs, the ladder to your dreams.
It is relatively rare for someone to have all four of these attributes naturally... mostly you have at least one of the areas listed above where you are weak. Fortunately, however, you can learn them, and make them part of who you are. If you work at it hard enough and long enough, you can make them nearly as instinctive as someone who DOES have them naturally.
My weakness, as I said above, is networking... it simply doesn't come naturally for me. I'm working on it, and intend to keep working on it, but it's something I have to consciously work on right now... hopefully I'm persistent enough to make it more natural.
What about you? What's your weakness?
译文:
梦想成真的4个要点
每个人都有自己的理想。我的理想就是写作。你们的应该和我完全不同吧，也许你们会想周游世界，或是当个专业主厨，还有别的什么的。你的梦想也可能有好几个 ……比方说，我也想环游世界呢！
要实现自己的梦想，你要做的有很多。当然，到底应该怎么做还取决于你的梦想具体是什么。然而我要讲的这四点，对于任何梦想的实现都非常关键。
这四点不仅能帮你梦想成真，而且对于其他方面也有很大的帮助。也许它们对于你来说，再自然不过了，不过也许你得努力学会这四件事，但是一旦它们成为了你为人处世的一部分，你就会发现，一切似乎都变得简单了。
那么，我们就来看看到底是什么让你美梦成真吧--
1. 分享
第一个关键点就是和别人分享你的梦想。这可以提高你的真实感，对自己的梦想更有意识，更容易发现与其相关的各种机会。而且，这样做的话还能不断地提醒你，你是有奋斗目标的，以免你的梦想折夭。
和别人分享自己的梦想，不仅提高了自己的意识，还能让别人也有一种参与感，希望尽他们的力量来帮你实现梦想。在帮你实现梦想的同时，他们会觉得和自己相关的某样事情成功了，就会有一定的成就感，反过来想想吧，你是多么想要帮自己熟悉的人实现他们的梦想呢？
简单想一下，即使有人因其他原因喜欢你，而且也十分愿意帮你，但如果他们不知道你的梦想是什么，那么一切都无从谈起呀。要是你能打开自己的心扉，和别人分享自己的梦想，那么他们肯定会积极地帮你的。
2. 人脉
在前一个的基础上，第二个关键点就是人脉了（注意，这里可不是指电脑上的网络呀）。所谓的人脉也就是要和自己认识的人保持联系。要是现在你和他们有联系着，那么要时不时地和他们联络联络，让这个关系一直存有并且也让他们对你有印象，说不定什么时候发生和你有关的事情，他们还能想起你来。
就拿我自己一个很特别的梦想来说吧。如果我和某个人一直保持联系，而他又恰巧和某杂志或报纸的高层成了朋友，那么说不定他就会把我写的文章推荐给那位高层看，甚至就直接让他们考虑看看能不能让我来替他们写专栏。那么，要是我之前没有和这位朋友保持联系，那么很有可能他根本就不会记得我，机会当然也随之遛走了。
说心里话：拉人脉还真是我的弱项。我就像个孩子似的到处转悠，和人相处也顺其自然，并没什么留心的。要是花点时间和精力进去，改变下我自己，说不定还会有不少收获呢！
3. 恒心
梦想成真的第三个关键点就是要有恒心。而且通常情况下，要实现自己远大的梦想的话，得过很久。你必须得有恒心让自己坚持到胜利的那一刻，在此期间，你得坚持不懈地和别人分享自己的梦想，拉人脉，打开自己的心扉……付出心血，抓住机遇，直到自己成功。
但是，需要牢记的是，恒心可不等同于固执。不要钻牛角尖，坚持认为毫无可能性的事物最终会发生改变。坚持不懈是指不怕困难险阻继续向前，而不是简单地盲目蛮干。
4. 心胸开阔
最后一个关键点就是要打开心扉，抓住一切可能让自己实现梦想的机遇，当然那些机会并不一定就能让你立马实现自己的梦想。对我来说的话，就是去参加作者和出版商们出席的会议，说不定我就能遇见贵人，在我写作或综合专栏项目中给予很多的帮助。
打开自己的心胸，也许你就能在不经意间交到朋友。也许就是在茫茫人海中，和自己朋友的朋友不期而遇，或碰到了自己伴侣的亲戚。而且很有可能，正是在他们生命的关键时刻，你出现在他们身边，给予关怀和帮助。那个人，也许就是今后帮你梦想成真的贵人。
当然，你只是坦然接受一切，却可能在无意间帮助了某个人实现了他的梦想。不管人生中会遭遇什么，也不管什么时候生命就这样结束了，你都应抓住一切机会，让自己的梦想变成现实。虽说把自己封闭起来，以免自己的痛处再次受伤乃是人之常情，但是这样的做法从长期来看的话，估计是弊大于利。
只要你能学会这几件事，或者在不知不觉中掌握它们，你就会发现成功无处不在。当然我并不是说它们能让你立刻成功，成就你的梦想，但是它们却是你通向成功，实现梦想必不可少的工具。
事实，很少有人天生就拥有这些特点。在以上几点中，我们每一个人至少在某一方面是比较弱的。但是，值得庆幸的是，我们可以通过学习，让它们也成为我们的一部分。只要你能刻苦学习，并持之以恒，就几乎可以让它们成为自己天性的一部分，就像那些天生拥有这些优点的人一样。
正如我在上面所说的，我的弱点就是不会拉关系。那对我来说就是十分的困难。我现在正努力学着，而且决定坚持下去。当然我得有意识地去改进自己的这个方面。令人高兴的是，我坚持不懈的努力让我现在越来越善于和人打交道了。
你呢？你的弱点又是什么？