Collect your family's 100 dreams

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to work with your family to make
a collective list of your one dreams. This will help

(00:23):
you make plans for fun, memorable experiences in the future.
You'll also avoid wasting your precious leisure time figuring out
how to spend it. Long time listeners will have heard
me recommend making a list of one hundred dreams, an
exercise I learned from career coach Caroline Sniza Levine years ago.

(00:46):
A list of one hundred dreams is like a bucket
list with a really big bucket. The brilliance of such
a long list is that you identify lots of things
you want to do in your life. Some of them,
like publishing a book, or running a marathon or renovating
your kitchen, require a lot of time or money. They

(01:09):
may not be things that are achievable in the near term.
With one hundred dreams, though, you will also list items
that are much more doable. You won't renovate your kitchen tomorrow,
but you could try a banana split at your local
ice cream place. You won't publish a book tomorrow, or
at least you probably won't, but you could publish a

(01:32):
letter to the editor in your local paper with items
like these among your dreams. You can totally make your
dreams come true. And as you enjoy smaller scale special experiences,
publishing a book and running a marathon may start to
feel more possible. When you make your dreams come true,

(01:54):
the story you tell yourself starts to change. You are
someone who does cool stuff. You can make cool stuff happen.
If you haven't made your own personal list of one
hundred dreams, I hope you will consider giving it a try.
It can make a big difference in the year ahead.

(02:16):
It can also be great to make a list of
one hundred dreams with your family. You'll generate lots of
ideas for how to have fun to gather, and you'll
also get to know each other in the process as
you hear more about each other's desires. So set aside
some time to brainstorm individually and collectively. Then see what

(02:40):
you've come up with. I bet you can picture the
conversations this would spark. Maybe your partner wants to take
the family camping. What are his memories of camping? Growing up.
What does he imagine it will be like camping altogether
with the family? And what about ghost stories? Definitely every night,

(03:01):
occasionally or no way never. Maybe your teenager wants to
map out your family tree. How did she get interested
in that? What aspects of your family history is she
most curious about. Our dreams are part of who we are,
and hearing your family's dreams gives you a new window

(03:21):
into their personalities. Generating a family list of one dreams
could be a great activity for a car trip, with
everybody having individual thinking time and then sharing their dreams
out loud. If you're making the list at home, you
could record the ideas on a big piece of paper
or a whiteboard if you have one. Put headings like

(03:44):
places to go, things to do, foods to eat, skills
to learn on the paper, and then give every family
member a marker to write or draw their ideas on
the appropriate pages. To see what dreams generated the most enthusiasm.
You could have everyone read all the ideas and then

(04:05):
give each person stickers to mark the ideas they are
most excited about. Once you've captured the ideas, figure out
how to put them somewhere you can see frequently. Maybe
it's a bulletin board in the family room or a
poster tacked up to the pantry door. Or maybe you're
all digital and you will all consult a shared document.

(04:29):
You can figure out what works for you. But you
want to be sure to revisit this list because if
you know what your family is interested in, because you've
created a list of one dreams, you are ready to
make memories anytime the opportunity presents itself. When you're planning

(04:50):
vacations and weekends, you can consult the list and find
lots of ideas. You won't keep going around saying what
do you want to do? I don't know what do
you want to do? Or I don't want to do that.
You've got lots of options, and with those options, you
can start making your family's dreams come true. If your

(05:11):
family makes a list of one dreams together, I would
love to hear about it. You can reach me at
Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our tax Hey everybody, I'd love to hear

(05:38):
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else, just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeart media dot

(05:59):
com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

(06:20):
favorite shows.