How to Day Dream Successfully
By: Kk Holland
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Productivity, Advice, Success

Image courtesy of Kathas_foto

While fantasizing about life’s possibilities can be fun, it can also reach a point of being destructive rather than helpful. There is never a satisfying end or resolution to day dreaming, and it is easy to find yourself drawn into an endless string of ruminations. Suddenly, you look up from your computer hours later and realize day dreaming has kept you from your writing and other creative endeavors.

Day dreams should be about orienting where your life is going and how to get there, not holding you back. If you find yourself loosing track of time, or day dreaming too much, recognize day dreaming can be a symptom of depression, too. Yet visioning your life can be incredibly powerful. How to strike a balance between daydreaming and catastrophe thinking is as easy as following these four tips:

Don’t be a Passive Day Dreamer

Try writing your dreams out instead of simply thinking about them. Start a journal, and write your morning pages. The key is to get out of your head. If you don’t like to write find a friend to talk to who can help you day dream out loud about possible scenarios. Sometimes we day dream because we are lonely and what we really need is interaction with others, and a chance to bounce ideas off one another. Create a support group of friends, or even an article club to help build support for each other.

2. Get Offline

Don’t day dream online. It’s too easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole that is the internet or social media. Since day dreaming can also be a sign of depression, this puts you at risk of using the internet to escape. Instead, set a goal to find a way to bring your day dream into concrete reality. Read a book by a travel writer about the country or city you find yourself fantasizing about living in. Consider taking a class that can get you out of your rut and closer to your goal. You might even meet like minded people who share your interests.

3. Set Daily Goals and Tasks

Don’t just float through the day. Instead set small daily goals and tasks, and work to accomplish them early while you still have the energy. Prioritize the really important things that you want to accomplish first. If you find yourself avoiding getting to the things you claim you want to do, set a timer for 10 minutes and force yourself to at least get started. If you consistently hate your daily tasks, you may just be overstressed, and spending some time relaxing should make you more productive when you come back to your project. Unless of course you realize that no amount of time off will help. Then you need to consider either finding a way to hand that task off (minimize your stuff, hire a cleaner, buy prepared food, reassign work tasks), or quit.

4. Practice Being Mindful

Most of all, recognize your tendency to escape into your own head. Make sure that you aren’t using day dreaming as a way to avoid a life that is making you unhappy. Try meditating, or yoga. Or even better read Zen Habits for a daily dose of reality in the kindest and most inspiring form possible. Because if you’re using daydreaming as a way of escaping a life that is making you unhappy, work to build a life that will make you happy instead.