Kristy Williams: Five Dreams I Think I'll Date

Kristy Williams is a former Bain management consultant and corporate strategist who now focuses her time on motherhood and visits to the zoo and beach. She grew up in small town Alberta, Canada and now lives in downtown San Diego.  She loves urban living and hopes to always be able to walk to the grocery store.  Her hobbies including most anything done outdoors, reading The Economist, traveling and planning parties.

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Goals have always been a central part of my life.  I like feeling proactive and productive and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes once goals are achieved.  As I read Whitney's article Making Space for Your Dream, I realized that while I continue to set goals, I'm plumb out of dreams.

In the busy years after college, I worked challenging jobs, traveled to many places throughout the world, met a wonderful man whom I married and became a mother.  In the process, I achieved the dreams set in high school and college.  In all the excitement of those years, new dreams weren't really needed.  The pace of my life has now slowed, making room for dreams once again.

But what do I dream of?

Source:  istockphoto

I want dreams I can work on now, recognizing that full realization may be 15-30 years off once the role of full-time mother lessens in intensity.   Many weeks of introspection have yielded five dreams I'm going to consider in 2010.  Each of the five potential dreams is something I enjoy, but until I spend some time with them, I won't know if they merit dream status.  So while I'm happily married, I'm going to spend some time dating this year-dating my dreams to determine which ones are right for me.

Dream No. 1:
Writing (of the non-fiction variety).
My first date has gone well-writing and publishing this post about my dreams has been engaging, stretching and rewarding.  I want to come up with two more topics and find two other places to publish.  Future dates will involve considering how I can make writing a more consistent part of my life.

Do you have any ideas on how to make writing a part of my everyday (or more realistically every week?)

Dream No. 2:
Business consulting. 
I did this for a living and, on the whole, enjoyed it.  I love reading about business and chatting with my husband about his start-up.  My first few dates with this dream will be all brainstorming.  How can I consult in my spare time?  Who would be interested in short blocks of commitment?  One option would be to focus on creatives -- those selling their wares via a personal website or etsy, or other small business owners.  I could provide support in creating a strategy, identifying a focused market group, setting prices, etc.

Do you know of any creatives whose work you love, or great business ideas generally?

Source:  istockphoto

Dream No. 3:
Teaching
This can start simply, perhaps by inviting some friends for a one-off class/discussion.  First date:  come up with a topic I'm passionate about (see above?)  Second date:  Develop the material and invite people to come.  Further down the line this could lead to something more structured -- maybe a class at the local high school (filled with underprivileged teens) on preparing for college.

Any thoughts on classes that would be interesting?  Or have any of you done something similar?

Dream No. 4
Politics
While a long-term dream may be to run for office, my efforts now will involve researching the candidates running for governor in California.  If I like one of the candidates, I'll date some more by looking at ways to get involved in the campaign.  Or I may keep this simple -- get involved by joining the on-line dialogue on politically-based sites.

Have you gotten involved in politics locally?  What did you do?  Any sites you'd recommend - perhaps around engagement for women and mothers?

Dream No. 5
Competitive Running/Triathlons
The competitive part is surely many, many years off, but in the meantime, I can get involved in racing.  I'm going to identify five races that pique my interest and start by running in a local 10K.

Readers, what is your favorite race format?  Why?

Source:  istockphoto

With all the focus on dreams this year, I am bound to discover something that excites me and provides enlightenment, energy, and joyful anticipation as I work to determine who I want to become.

What suggestions do you have for Kristy?  Any businesses you'd like to see contract her services?

And yes, she's agreed to write a follow-up post in July -- to tell us what she's learning, and how dream speed-dating is going.

What dreams are you going to date? 

Comments

[Julie]

A great reminder that our identity should always involve stretching - and dreaming. It's easy to forget that we each have potential and are not simply defined by what we do with the majority of our time.

[Maria]

Oh this is so fun! I'm so glad you will be updating us in a few months Kristy. I love sharing/learning other people's dreams. I guess that's why I love interviewing people. Good luck in this "dating season"!

[Robin Dickinson]

Hey Kristy,

I'm a huge believer in living the dream everyday. I read your post with great interest and would like to propose an idea:

Mentoring inspiring and compassionate leaders.

Here's my logic:

a) You get to teach - sharing your competence, skills and experience with strong and motivated leaders/potential leaders;

b) You get to do business consulting - mentoring is an excellent way of generating consulting jobs - especially if you're good. (I've been doing it for nearly 2 decades). The great thing is with mentoring, you get to demonstrate your value in-situ.

c) You get to do writing - set up a blog to capture and share your ideas and intellectual property with the world. The pages of notes I get from my 3-4 one hour mentoring sessions per week provide me with endless material to write about. I'm no writer, but blogging has been a fun, challenging way of developing my skills in this area - and contributing something positive back.

d) Politics - hmm - well you could include up and coming politicians in your mentoring as a way of 'getting involved'. Maybe some pro-bono work to start with, helping graduates sharpen up their skill sets on the way to the 'Oval Office'!

e) Triathlon - well 4 out of 5 isn't bad. ;)

Just wanted to put this thought out there for you, Kristy.

All the very best, Robin :)

[Brynn Snyder]

Kristy this article was so enjoyable to read, 1 it made me want to set my own dreams to accomplish and 2 it was fun to see what your dreams were. Thanks for that post for inspiring me to set good goals.

[Blue]

depending on the kind of writing you're interested in, there are a lots of group blogs that have "permas"...people who are authorized to post whenever they wish. they exist on all subjects, so perhaps if you follow any blogs that interest you, you could submit guest posts (as you did here) and eventually become a perma on it. that would be a nice, low-stress way of writing, with a built in audience (depending on the blog, readership can be in the hundreds or the thousands-a-day) and allow you to express that side of you.

just a thought. great post!

[Whitney]

Thank you for your suggestions and encouragement! Hearing you cheer Kristy on makes me just so happy!

[Stephanie]

Krisy - just wanted to wish you luck. MOPS international accepts items for submission - their website has details on how to submit. You can find writer's guidelines here: http://www.mops.org/page.php?pageid=657&srctype=menu&PHPSESSID=22e8c61ba1c8c43c6a6b062d3f6c92f1

Attachment Parenting International welcomes submissions for their online journal, blog, and newsletter. Info can be found here: http://www.attachmentparenting.org/journal/journal.php

Good luck!

I have no affiliation with MOPS and am simply a member of API, but I have started spreading my writing wings as well, due in part to Whitney's affirmation, and wanted to share what I have found so far.

[davidbaer]

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[Kristy Williams]

Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement! The ideas you've shared are very helpful.

Robin - I like the idea of mentoring. I haven't thought of it before, but certainly something I want to look into now.

Blue & Stephanie - thanks for the tips on where I can share my writing. Now I just need to start thinking about topics!

I look forward to digging into these dream ideas and updating you all this summer.

[Lori Nawyn]

I think I spent years dating my dreams without even realizing it! Now I know what I want. I'm working on summoning the courage required to follow my heart.