When I was a teenager, I made some bad choices. And one of them got me locked up at Rikers Island Reformatory. I felt scared and alone. I couldn’t believe what had happened and that I was behind bars.

I couldn’t wait to get out. But as important as that was, my dream-goal for the future–for what I intended to happen once I got out–was what really kept me going. It brought hope and purpose to what otherwise felt like a hopeless situation.

Do you have a dream-goal for the future to make your life feel more meaningful? It’s important to have one.

Mine was to become a successful author. And I was committed to making that dream come true even though I was behind bars and hadn’t even completed high school.

 But that really didn’t matter.

What mattered, and what always matters, when you have a dream-goal for the future is that you believe your dream-goal is achievable.

Because when you do, it will keep you in action in the present. And that’s what will wake you up to your life today.

I can hardly imagine what my life would have been like without me having my dream-goal to become a successful author.

I certainly would not have done all the things I did while I was in Rikers.

For example, while I was incarcerated, I went to the make-shift school they had to get my GED (General Equivalency Diploma) because I knew I needed to be educated to be a writer. I also agreed to meet with a counselor because I knew that to be a writer, I had to be clear-headed and not bogged down with a lot of problems.

My dream-goal for the future helped me stay focused. But even more important than that, it helped me plot the course for my life.

Without my dream for the future, there would have been no reason for me to study and pass the GED tests while I was incarcerated. Nor would there have been any reason for me to see a counselor. I did both these things because I had this dream to become a successful author.

The main thing I did, of course, was to write.

I wrote poems, stories, and plays. And most importantly, I kept a journal and made entries into it daily.

Why? Because that’s what writers do.

I knew I had to be in action every day writing to make my dream come true.

For our dream-goals to wake us up to life in the present, we need to be in action today. If we’re not in action, one reason might be that we don’t have the right dream-goal. We need one that inspires us!

We need one that gives us hope, meaning, and direction.

In my case, I did become an author. It took some years, but I kept at it. I kept writing.

My book, You Can Choose Your Life: A Guide to Experiencing More Peace, Freedom, and Happiness Right Now actuallybecame an Amazon bestseller.

If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read it. It’s a powerful, self-help book about how changing your internal conversations can change your life. Here’s the link to get it from Amazon.

I am very proud of the book, but I’m still working on my dream-goal to become even more successful as an author. In fact, I plan to have my next book out in 2023, based on the diary I wrote while I was incarcerated.

Oh, and I never went back to prison. I was too busy getting the education and support I needed to become a writer.

If you already know your dream-goal for the future, please share it in the comments below. And if you’re doing things today to turn your dream-goal into a reality, please share some of the things you’re doing, so we can all be inspired.

If you do not have a dream-goal that you feel very passionate about, one that has you be in action right now, I encourage you to get one. I’d be glad to help you with that if you want some support.

Remember, if you have a dream-goal that you really believe in, it will have you excited and engaged in your life today!