Set These Boundaries Before You Chase Your Dream

Maybe you have a dream that you want to pursue. Maybe you’ve been thinking more and more about taking a leap of faith. But . . . before you chase your dream, you need to set a few personal boundaries.

Why? Because if you don’t, your dream can quickly become a nightmare and might even transform into someone else’s dream for you. This is a truth I stumbled across when I starting chasing my dream —  this organization.

One of the first boundaries I set for myself had to do with money. I’ve been an accountant for 25 years and have seen firsthand how quickly money can change people, and not for the better.

I didn’t want to go down that road. So once the idea of The Expectation Gaps really started to take shape in my mind, I began to think about what I would do if I started making a significant amount of money. What would I do with the money? How would it change me? How would it change my work and my message?

That’s when I decided to organize The Expectation Gaps as a nonprofit organization. This way, I could still draw a reasonable, board-approved salary, but I would not have access to more than I needed. The money I didn’t need would go to a good cause. And . . . I could work for a nonprofit organization, something I’d always seen myself doing at some point.

Now that’s a win, win, win situation right there! And you can create a win, win, win situation when you chase your dream by setting these boundaries:

1. How much money do you need? My guess is, you probably need a lot less than you think. That’s what I’ve found personally. You then need to ask yourself, what will I do with any money in excess of what I need. Think this through before you have the money in hand. That way you won’t find yourself sacrificing your dream to chase money you don’t even need. (I’ve created a worksheet to help you calculate how much money you need. There’s a link to it at the end of this post.)
2. How much time are you willing to spend? There’s a good chance that chasing your dream will start to consume you. You’ll find yourself working toward your dream every second of the day if you don’t set some boundaries on your time from the start. Maybe you’re okay with that, but you want to make that choice intentionally. Otherwise, you could be heading for burn out and ruined relationships.

Keep scrolling for boundary #3.