The Real Secret to Making Dreams into Realities

Like many young couples, my wife Shahinool and I were ecstatic when we bought our first home. It was a modest townhouse that cost $55,000 but we really felt we had arrived. Then as we started a family we moved a couple of more times, as our vision of what we wanted from a home kept growing.

Then we fell in love with our dream home. It was a beautiful roomy place at the top of a 300-foot cliff overlooking the water in a nice suburb of Vancouver. I could envision us having a great life raising our boys there and I wanted it desperately, but it was simply out of reach economically. The house remained on the market for some time because the owners were firm on its value. I remained firm in my desire to own it one day – and I did something many would consider unusual.

The house was not far from where we lived in our own modest home, so every morning on my way to work I would drive to that dream home and pull into their driveway. Then I would back out again, imagining that this was my home I was leaving to start my day.

I did that for months because it was an important visualization exercise for me. It increased my hunger to own that home and eventually it pushed me to take action. One day I was sitting in that driveway and I knew I had to do something now, before it sold to someone else.

So I huddled with my financial advisors and I said, "We've got to find a way to make this happen." They gave me all the reasons it couldn't, I persisted, and finally one of them said, "The only way I can see this happening is if you knock on the door and make your own deal with the owner."

So that's what I did – I introduced myself to the owners. They recognized me as the strange guy who they were thinking about reporting to the police because I was always pulling into their driveway and I gave them my offer. "I really want this house. You really want to sell but haven't found a buyer. This is how much I can pay right now. I will give you the balance in full in four years. If for any reason I don't, the house goes back to you and I forfeit all my equity. The risk is all mine."

The house was paid off in two years. It was two years of some of the most intense working and saving in my life, but in the end we spent 14 great years raising our boys in that home and I have never regretted it.

The point is we all have our dreams and we all need a vision. But a vision without an action plan is really just a fantasy. You have to move in mentally to make things happen. I'm not saying you need to take the kind of risk I took in acquiring that home, but just about anything worthy of being called a dream is going to take some kind of bold measures to become a reality.

Don't wait. Don't just hope. Remember that most regrets in life come from the things we don't do. So decide what it will take to get you closer to your dream and take some action now—even if it may mean having a "burning the boats in the harbor" moment when you commit and can't go back. You'll probably find that you become inspired by the faith you have in yourself.