Several weeks ago, I read this simple but incredibly thought-provoking idea in Mike Dooley’s book, Notes From the Universe:*

The secret to living the life of your dreams is to start living the life of your dreams, right now, to whatever degree possible.

That quote has really stayed with me. It is so simple, yet so profound. By taking whatever steps possible toward your goals, however small they may be, you will start moving in that direction. But more importantly, something else happens. A mind shift. A different way of thinking. It may be imperceptible at first, but your thoughts will start to change. And when your thoughts change, your actions and decisions are also affected. You will start behaving differently. You will start making decisions that will lead you further in the direction you want to go.

For me, starting to live the life of my dreams was fairly easy. If I want to make a living as a writer, my next step is obvious: I need to write more. So I started writing in my blog and looking for freelance work. I found a paid writing gig, and then some other small freelance assignments followed. Not enough to earn a living, not nearly enough to start thinking about writing full-time, but enough to earn me some regular income on the side, enough to keep me excited about writing and wanting to do more.

Today I was chatting with a coworker — who owns dozens of domain names and maintains several forum-type Web sites on the side — and he told me he is starting a new “green living” Web site. He asked me if I would be willing to write content for the site if he paid me a monthly fee. Would I be willing to write content if he paid me a monthly fee. Here was an opportunity I didn’t even know existed, one I wasn’t even pursuing. It came out of nowhere. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. I believe things happen for a reason. I believe what you think about, you will attract in your life.

Lately I have been thinking about listening again to Brian Tracy’s Psychology of Achievement, and wouldn’t you know it, when I arrived at work this morning, there was a copy of the brand-new revised audio CD on my desk! (Left there by someone in the products department, so that I could update the Web page on our e-commerce site.) As I drove home today, I popped the first disk into my CD player. The first few tracks dealt with these exact ideas. Thoughts are the cause; circumstances are the effect. What you think, you become. Thoughts become things, as Mike Dooley likes to say. Choose the good ones. Your life reflects what you think about most. Successful people spend most of their time thinking about what they want and how to get it. Unsuccessful people spend most of their time thinking about what is wrong with their lives and who to blame.

Which do you want to be?

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.
– Henry David Thoreau

*To receive daily notes from the Universe, sign up on Mike’s Web site, tut.com