This is the time of year when everyone’s telling you to plan your next big move. But you can’t imagine thinking about that now with the busy holiday season so near.
What if 2026 didn’t start with a plan… but with a dream?
What if you knew what you wanted for yourself next year?
What if you could have the clarity in 15-30 minutes?
You don’t need a goal or a plan yet. But this tiny pocket of time right now is the most powerful place to start dreaming about 2026. And in this short episode, I tell you exactly how to do it.
Plus, I got a powerful (and free) tool for you to use that makes it so simple for you to reconnect with your own dreams — even if they’ve been buried for a while.
Download the Start Dreaming Again Guide and then imagine letting that dream marinate and breathe in the background until 2026 arrives.
3 KEY TAKE AWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:💭
1️⃣ Your first step to clarity is dreaming the dream.
2️⃣ The act of naming a dream shifts how you move through your days.
3️⃣ Getting clear on what you care about and what you’re moving toward is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself.
What do you really want for yourself next year?
It all starts with clarity. Not a plan.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE START DREAMING AGAIN GUIDE
Check out all my coaching and course offerings - Coachcarlene.com
MORE FROM ME
Follow me on Instagram: @coach_carlene
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Episode Transcript
You're never too busy, too tired, too old, or too
anything to pursue your dreams.
Welcome to the DistractedDreamer podcast, where you'll
learn how to move all thosenever-ending distractions aside
and chase your dreams withconfidence.
(00:21):
Hello, hello, my friend.
Welcome back to the DistractedDreamer.
I know how busy you are, and I'mso grateful that you're taking
the time to tune in.
Um, today is a shorter episode.
So you can use the rest of thetime that you'd be listening to
do something for yourself.
And I'm going to tell youexactly what that is.
But first, I gotta know (00:41):
do you feel yourself bracing for it?
You know, you know what I'mtalking about.
It's a couple weeks before theholiday season is upon us.
And sometimes it can feel likethe holidays are happening to
you instead of with you or foryou.
And all that beautiful familytime, the meal prepping, the
(01:02):
shopping, the decorating, itcan, well, it can feel
overwhelming.
And then boom, it's the newyear, and all the pressure of
you gotta have goals and yougotta have a plan and the whole
shebang, it leaves you feelingbehind.
And maybe you wonder if youshould even bother.
But I got something in my earsaying, take advantage of this
(01:24):
precious pocket of time beforethe holidays are here, and I'm
inviting you to join me.
Now, you know, most people, wewait until January to figure out
what we want.
Now, hear me out.
I'm not saying to do your NewYear stuff now.
No, no, no, no.
That's exactly what I don't wantfor you.
You don't need to do more rightnow.
(01:46):
But maybe you do need to startdreaming for 2026.
Now, I don't mean like in a highpressure kind of a way.
I mean more like in a getcurious, get inspired, get clear
kind of way, you know, beforeyou're exhausted and you have no
brain cells left.
Because I know I can't dreamwhen I'm overwhelmed and my
to-do list is as long as a CVSreceipt.
(02:08):
What is it with those receipts,anyways?
Like what a waste.
Does it does anybody look atthose receipts and like fill out
the surveys or use the coupons?
Anyways, I digress.
But my point is you want to getclarity now, not when you're
trying to recover from theholidays, but now before all of
that takes over.
(02:29):
So the best way to start strongin January is to start dreaming
now.
Now, notice I didn't say tostart doing now.
I said to start dreaming now.
You can do that.
Because here's what I'velearned, and maybe you've felt
this too, is that clarity, itdoesn't just arrive because you
(02:50):
want it to, right?
You're not going to be clear onwhat you want just because the
calendar says, oh, it's January1st.
No.
And your desire, well, desiredoes not happen when you're
exhausted.
The only thing that you desirewhen you're exhausted is rest.
That's it, that's the dream torest.
And dreams, they don't show upwhen you're rushing, they appear
(03:12):
when there's a quiet and a calmabout you.
And they show up when you slowdown just enough to listen.
And right now, right here inthis little sliver of space that
we have before the holidaysreally hit, you have that
window.
It's not a huge, wide-openwindow, but it's open wide
(03:34):
enough for you to take 15 or 30minutes to sit and be with
yourself, and you will find thatyour dreams, they will join you.
And this is why I believe now,not January, not when things
calm down, is actually the mostpowerful time to begin dreaming
(03:57):
again.
And I say begin because I'm notasking you to make a big plan or
to commit to a project or topick a word for the year.
I'm just inviting you toremember what you want.
Even if it's small, even if itfeels messy up in your head, and
even if you don't know what todo with it yet.
(04:18):
Because when you do this now,something powerful happens.
You actually start to movedifferently.
And you're gonna start to makechoices that honor what actually
matters to you.
And I am making this so simplefor you.
So I know you're gonna say,Carlene, I do not know how to
dream.
No problem.
I got you.
(04:39):
You are also gonna tell me, Idon't have any time.
I I got no time.
And I am telling you that thisis so simple that you can't
afford not to take the time todo this.
So I put together an amazingtool for you.
And it's called Start DreamingAgain: Three Gentle Steps to
Rediscover What You Really Want.
(05:01):
So you can go grab the guide atcoachcarline.com forward slash
dreamer.
And I'm also putting the link inthe show notes below.
So you have two places you cango get it.
You can type in coachcarlene.comforward slash dreamer into your
browser, or you can click thelink in the show notes.
So this is a really simple butpowerful tool.
(05:24):
And I actually walk you throughthe entire guide in episode 46.
I did that episode.
It's kind of like a workshopwhere we're workshopping through
the guide together.
How cool is that?
So I am right here with youthrough the entire thing.
And the guide, it shows you howto dream.
And the AI prompts and theresponses that AI gives you, it
(05:48):
coaches you to reveal thosedreams and it helps you
understand what those dreamsmean.
Now, these prompts and theresponses that you get, they are
written in my voice.
Seriously, people have told me,oh my gosh, this is amazing.
It's like I'm having aconversation with you, Carlene,
my coach.
Yes, I am your coach inside allof this.
(06:10):
And everything is crafted tohelp you start hearing yourself
again.
And it's not about knowing whatyou want yet.
You do not need to know what youwant to click download and get
this guide.
Nope.
All you have to do is be willingto be honest when you fill in
the blanks of the props.
(06:31):
That's it.
And you have to have a littlebit of courage to see what your
dreams are and to see yourselfclearly again.
And you don't have to do itperfectly.
You don't even have to be ready.
You just have to be willing.
And I know you are becauseyou're here.
This is the same three-stepprocess that I use.
I didn't have this guide a yearago, but I took what I learned a
(06:55):
year ago and I created this toolfor you because I learned that
there is so much value inletting your dreams marinate for
a bit before you do anythingwith them.
And that's what I did.
And I know I ended up creatingsomething very different after I
sat with a dream and dreamt itthan what I would have created
(07:17):
if I took action right away.
And that is why I want you totake advantage of this precious
pocket of time.
Time to let your dreams marinateand breathe quietly in the
background.
Okay, like I started to say, itwas one year ago.
We'd been in our new home inTennessee for about nine months.
Now, don't get me wrong, ourhouse here in Tennessee, it is
(07:38):
everything I dreamed of.
It's beautiful.
It's in a neighborhood I love.
It's peaceful, but it stilldidn't feel like mine yet.
It didn't feel like us.
And I realized what I reallywanted was to take my time room
by room and bring my personaltouch into each space.
(07:59):
You know what I'm talking about,you know, some color on the
walls, art that actually meanssomething to me, area rugs that
make the room feel cozy, betterlighting, and spaces that invite
us to live and work and connectand relax.
And when I named that dream, andI actually spoke it out loud to
(08:21):
my husband, to my kids, to myfriends, something shifted.
And it wasn't just this somedayidea floating around in my head
anymore.
It became real.
And then after the holidays,they all reminded me of it when
I got distracted.
And I was like, oh, I'll get toit later.
No, no, no, no, no.
They didn't let me forget whatmy dream was.
(08:43):
And now our entire entryway, itfeels so much more inviting.
In my office, this is like aplace where I want to work,
where I can actually focus and Ican let the creative energy
flow.
I love it.
And that formal dining room,yeah, we were never going to use
it.
I turned it into a piano andreading room.
(09:04):
And our beautiful baby grand, itsits at the center of it.
And there's this big, comfyswivel chair by the window that
looks out into the woods.
Oh, it's just the best place toread.
And that dream, the one I almostdidn't name because it just felt
too small.
It almost felt like a to-do.
I didn't really know it was adream.
It changed how I feel every day.
(09:25):
So it wasn't really about thecolors on the walls or the
things filling the space.
It was about how all of thatmade us feel like we were home.
That was the dream.
But I cringe to think what Iwould have created if I rushed
that process and didn't just sitwith it for a while.
(09:46):
And you know what?
It reminded me that when youtake a dream seriously, that no
matter how small it seems, oreven if you don't think it's a
dream, that your whole lifestarts to shift around it.
And that's what can be waitingfor you in 2026.
Not a perfectly executed plan,but clarity around what you want
for yourself in 2026.
(10:08):
So what's your dream?
Well, if you're like, well, Idon't know.
Well, that's okay because that'swhere this tool, this guide
comes in.
So again, go grab it atcoachcarleen.com forward slash
dreamer.
And I've put the link below inthe show notes for you.
And then tune into episode 46where I walk you through all of
(10:31):
it.
And when I say all of it, Idon't say all of it because it's
a lot, because it's not.
It is very, very simple, veryconcise, and so easy to do.
So once you do it, even if youdon't know what to do with that
dream yet, that's okay.
I'm just inviting you to letthat dream matter.
Let this be the year that youdon't just dismiss yourself and
(10:56):
your dreams.
Instead, name your dream, andyou're gonna do that when you go
through the exercise.
Write it down, speak it out loudto people, and give it space to
become something more to you.
And you know what?
It starts with one tiny decisionto not wait until January.
(11:17):
And then the next decision is togo download the guide right now.
To give yourself the gift ofremembering what you want before
the world gets really, reallyloud again.
Because when you begin now,you're gonna give your dream
time to breathe and to marinade.
And that's how 2026 becomes ayear of alignment for you, not
(11:38):
just achievement.
So if you're feeling like you'vebeen in survival mode, like a
lot of us feel, if you're tiredof feeling disconnected from
your own desires, or if you'recraving clarity before 2026
sneaks up on you, well, gettingclear on what you care about and
what you're moving towards isone of the most powerful things
(12:00):
that you can do for yourself.
So go get the guide.
It's at coachcarline.com forwardslash dreamer and go tune in to
episode 46 where I walk youthrough it.
And I just want to say thank youfor being here.
And if you know someone whodeserves to start dreaming again
or who needs to start dreamingagain, share this episode with
(12:22):
them.
And you just have to rememberthis.
You still have dreams, and theystill matter, and they're still
waiting for you.
And I'm gonna be right here,waiting to welcome you to our
next conversation.
Bye for now.
Oh, and one more thing.
(12:42):
This is the legal language.
You know, the stuff that thelawyers put together, and they
say that I need to read this toyou.
So here we go.
This podcast is presented solelyfor educational and
entertainment purposes.
I'm just your friend.
I'm not a licensed therapist.
This podcast is not intended asa substitute for the advice of a
(13:03):
physician, professional coach,psychotherapist, or other
qualified professionals.
Got it?
Good.
I will see you in the nextepisode.
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