Your Dream Deserves Your Discipline:
9 Essential Skills for Dream Achievers
I was sitting across from a high-achieving executive last week when she said something that stopped me cold: “I’m battle weary and numb.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Her days were a blur of email management, back-to-back meetings, expense reports, and client demands — with her own health quietly shoved to the back burner. By the time she got home and made dinner, six to eight emails still needed responses. Her last hour of the day disappeared into mindless scrolling, and she’d go to bed feeling emptier than when she woke up, knowing tomorrow would be a repeat.
I scrapped our coaching plan for the day. Instead, I picked up the marker and wrote one word on the whiteboard: DREAMS.
What are your dreams? Not pipe dreams — real, flesh-and-blood desires. The goals you keep pushing to “someday.”
Here’s the truth: most of us toss our dreams to the wind the moment the urgent shows up. We let the fires of today put out the fuel of tomorrow.
So we started over. She named what had been sitting dormant:
- Travel she’d put off that made her feel alive
- Home upgrades she’d already planned but never started
- Hobbies she’d shelved indefinitely
- Financial independence — something no one in her family had ever achieved
For thirty minutes, we rebuilt her ability to see what had gone invisible. We got specific. We documented it. And then I gave her a framework — the same one I want to give you today.
At the end of our session, I asked her to write her name on the whiteboard, next to the date. A new journey, officially declared.
“Your dreams,” I told her, “deserve your discipline.”
So here’s your assignment: write your dreams down. Get specific. Then start building these nine skills into how you show up each day.
Here’s to giving your dreams your all!
— Steve
If this stirred something in you, share it with a coworker, friend, or colleague who needs to hear it too.
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“The purpose of Leadership Quest is to help professionals develop their personal leadership, vision and emotional intelligence. Everyday I strive to help leaders and teams achieve their desired goals in sales productivity, leadership, time maximization, and life-balance. ”
About the Author
Steve Gutzler is the President of Leadership Quest, a premier leadership development company based in Scottsdale. As a dynamic and highly sought-after speaker, Steve has delivered over 2,500 impactful presentations to renowned organizations such as Microsoft, Starbucks, the Seattle Seahawks, Spotify, Boeing, Cisco, Starwood Hotels, Ritz-Carlton, and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
A published author and thought leader on leadership and emotional intelligence, Steve lives near Scottsdale with his wife, Julie. Together, they cherish time spent with their three adult children and six grandchildren.
