Dreams And Deadlines: How to Have Your Dreams Pull Come to You

Wouldn't it be great if we could shorten the time it takes to achieve our dreams? Many people fail to make good on their dreams, because they never do the one thing that draws the line in the sand. This one thing is what will spur you into action and start looking for answers to progress on your journey. We'll talk about that THING in today's episode.

Watch the live stream here: www.donnyraus.com/blog.

Transcript

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Most people spend their entire lives trust with it, everything in a single thought. As to what it is they really want and what's important. I live in a couple of jobs that I hate it. One line. So, do you have a deadline behind your dreams? If you do not have a deadline behind your dreams, let me ask you a different question. How do you feel when you think about those dreams? Do they feel distant? Do you feel emotionally charged when you think about them? And do you feel like you are getting momentum? If you do not have a deadline behind a dream, likely you feel exactly that. Because with a deadline, you start to feel like you get excitement around it because you know that that dream is right around the corner. You feel the momentum because you're making progress towards a result that you want. Let me tell you a story. So the re the inspiration behind this uh this podcast here is because I was faced with the same, uh, I guess the same question regarding one of my dreams, which is to create my espresso plan. So grab your cup of coffee and let's dive in. Making my own espresso plan has been a goal of mine since probably my inception into coffee, which is something like 30 years. And as I was learning about coffee, right, the entire journey, I was learning about espresso. And in the beginning, I wasn't in my intention wasn't to create espresso, but as I started to learn about coffee, I was like, you know what? Wouldn't it be great to make my own Italian espresso that was fresh, had all the great flavors, and was roasted right here in the United States. So I taught myself how to learn how to roast coffee and I came up with my own methodology for that. But yet it never tasted like Italian espresso. And so I worked on it literally for years. For years I did it until there was one moment where I decided that I said it was one year ago, I decided that this was gonna be year that I created my Italian espresso. And I set the date to April 2024. I remembered reaching out to uh this individual that I was gonna be working with. And I was talking to him, and he and he was a he was a professional that was uh in demand all around the world because he is the best at what he does. And I said, you know what, if I'm gonna learn from everybody, I'm gonna learn from the best. So I contacted him and said, hey, I want to work with you. And they're like, well, there's no opening in the schedule. And so I I was like, well, I have to work with him. I don't care when the uh, you know, when he's available, I will work around his schedule. So then the time opened up, and this was about one year ago. He had to be in Italy because he had to renew his passport. So as he was renewing his passport, he had about like two weeks for the passport to come back in before he would actually have to head back out of the country for different coffee conventions and working with his customers. So I flew to Modena, Italy, just around like uh very close to Milan, and I spent two days roasting, cupping, tasting, pulling shots of espresso with him, and creating a bunch of the blends that are now kind of I'm I'm ideating as we speak. When I got home and I started to put this uh what I learned into practice, I started to get the results, but I still needed more help. I still needed more of that technical side as to I knew what I was doing, but in many ways I didn't know why I was doing certain things. I had taught myself how to roast coffee and I knew how to get a pleasurable cup. And I developed my own methodology for how I roast coffee. But one of the things that had been keeping me, uh, I guess, from pushing forward and going further was this lack of understanding about things that were happening in that roasting chamber and how to develop certain coffees. Because I was approaching most of the coffees as, in a way, as the same, and they would behave differently just based on their on their uh their density, their moisture content. So now what do I do? Right? So now I have this goal, I made steps towards it, but I didn't have after trying it out, I was, you know, I'm gonna figure it out, I'll do it myself. I'll I'll I'll keep ideating until I get it right. Now that could take a long time, especially since in my roasting, you know, I might roast maybe once or twice a month just because of the volume of coffee that I need to roast in this in this machine. It's a very large machine. And looking at that, and I realized that there was a point uh where I was sitting in my um in my car and I was asking myself a question like, well, what's preventing me from moving forward and and and going bigger? The answer that came up was this understanding of key elements of the roasting process, specifically how to modulate and make adjustments at certain points within the roast in order to achieve uh not just like the profile curve, right? Because the profile curve is arbitrary. It doesn't mean that you have a great taste in coffee or you don't, but I still wanted to know how do I grasp control of it? How do I manipulate and make the flavors with intention? I could have again and you know read more books, I could have just tested, and I and eventually I know that I would figure out, but how long would that take? Looking with the espresso, I was had that goal for years, and I was like, you know what, it doesn't matter how long it's gonna take, I will figure it out. And I have no doubt in my mind that I would figure it out. But what if you could consolidate time? So instead of taking years or like decades, right? What if it took maybe one year? What if it took maybe six months to get the results you wanted? That's where the idea of deadlines comes in. So here I am, I'm a year out, almost a year out from when I met with that consultant. And the espresso has taken form. Now I have this blend, my Courage Espresso blend, that I have been crafting and I've been fine-tuning, but I I still need more guidance. So, what do I do? I could continue to roast and figure it out my own, which is totally possible. I could do that. I could ask other people around me about, you know, in the roasting community that I'm a part of, say, hey, how do you do this? And why do you do this? And I might get some answers, but I not many of the people there are self-taught as well. They're not really trained in the practicality and and why you do certain things at certain points of the roast. They were just, they were taught by someone else and they just kind of mirror what that person has told them because I was part of that same community in the very beginning. I still chose to do my own way. I didn't do uh his methodology, otherwise, I would have had coffee just like everybody else. So, what do I do? And I looked out as when I was going back to that question about like, well, what's holding me back from stepping out further? It was this having this knowledge. So I thought, well, all right, well, great, how do I close that gap? What can I do? What actions can I take? So I registered for an SCA, Specialty Coffee Association course in Italy. In so this comes as in May as I'm getting ready. I'm going to travel uh Denmark, uh, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. And then when I decided that I was gonna incorporate this coffee learning journey into this trip, now said I'm gonna have to shave up, maybe shave off Finland and Estonia and do those at a later point in time. But now I'm gonna be going to Florence and I'm gonna be working with an with an espresso uh trainer and I'm gonna be doing an SEA credited course, meaning I'm gonna be learning not just the foundation, but the intermediate and the advanced aspects of roasting. So this way, one, I'm doing it all at once. This way, I'm not just partitioning the learning and then I forget. I'm gonna be doing it all at once. This way, the learning sticks because I'm doing it all at once. I'm gonna be um flooding my mind with this new information that I get to put into practice one right after the other. And then also the the deadline I set, and let me perhaps the most important part of this story is to say, like, what the what the what's the mindset that I had before I booked this? So I was looking at my trip and I was like, okay, I'm I'm gonna be doing uh almost three weeks out in Scandinavia. Great. Do I really want to put this Italian coffee training into this and and break apart my trip when I could just do it at a different time, right? It would have been so easy just to put it off for a different time at some later point. I thought I had many reasons for doing this, right? I was like, well, gosh, it's gonna cost, it's gonna cost a lot more money in order to do this. Like I don't even know. Oh, I know I know and know what the money is gonna cost, but it's gonna result in in a pretty big expense. So I was had all these excuses as to why I should put this thing off for some later point in time. But I also knew that by the end of this year, I wanted to have that result. And yes, I could push it off until maybe take the course in August or September, but then I would be losing valuable time in which I get to put into practice what I've learned. And I now would be missing, I would be missing a few markets of mine that I do some outdoor markets, I'd be missing some of those markets in order to do this. But when I looked about like, well, what would be the outcome? If I take this thing and I get the experience and I create this button, what is the outcome? And I thought about the momentum I would gain as a result of having this new awareness, having these new skills. And that alone made it well worth it to take the action now. So I emailed them, I said, okay, I'm gonna, I'd like to partake in this course, please sign me up. And then they said, sorry, someone signed up over the weekend, there are no more spots. I was like, oh great. But I didn't get upset. Instead, I looked at it and I was like, well, you know what? Everything is happening for a reason. Either I will get into this or I will find another school that was meant for me. I really do believe that life is happening for me. Although sometimes it's easier to step into that philosophy than other times. But I was in the right mindset. So I was like, you know what? Life is happening for me. I trust that it's gonna work out. Monday comes along and I get an email from the school, and they're like, you know what? A spot opened up. I talked to the trainer, you're in. So now I'm gonna be heading over to Florence, Italy this coming, uh, this coming May, where I'll be doing the training there. And I may even extend that trip a little bit longer if this other training that I have planned for blending and again roasted, learning from a different roasting methodology for Italian espresso ends up unfolding. So, all this I tell you, is that your dreams need a deadline. Because without the deadline, you lose emotional intensity. Without the deadline, they feel so far away. Without the deadline, you rob yourself of the gift of feeling the emotions, feeling momentum behind something that is very, very important to you. So, what are your dreams? Let's revisit those right now. And if you don't know, then it's time you take a few minutes just to write down. And even if it's not super specific, just write down some overall general dreams because as you start to put focus on those, you'll start to get more clarity. So, what are some of your big dreams? Maybe it is to live abroad somewhere, maybe it is to travel to a certain place, maybe it is to start your own business. Write it down on a sheet of paper. And what is the very next step you can take? Like, I'm not saying that you have to have the the end already figured out, but let's decide on what is the next step that you can take that'll move you in that direction. And then the third thing is by when? When will you do that next step? Is it one week from now? Is it by the end of today? Is it by the end of the month? The important thing here is that the more you consolidate that time frame, is the more emotion you're gonna feel and the more momentum you're gonna feel as you start to take these steps and move forward. Because the more elongated it is, you lose the emotion. When you compact that, now all of a sudden your brain has to work in overdrive. Like, you know, while you're sleeping, your brain's gonna be working and be like, okay, this needs to happen by Friday. Oh my god, how do I do this? How do I how do I make this thing happen? And then the next step, your brain is gonna be already planning the steps for you because you've you created this container in which it must happen in. What happens if you extend it out with no definite date, with no deadline? You already know the answer. I know the answer because I I've done it over and over. So if it sounds like that I'm, if it sounds like I'm preaching to you, I'm just teaching you from my own experience. This espresso blend that I create, I'm working on right now, that's coming into fruition now. I've had this goal for literally my entire coffee career for almost 25, 26 years. And why is it coming to fruition now? Why have I been taking more and more steps now? Because I gave myself the deadline for key activities. I didn't say I'm gonna have this espresso blend by perfected by X date, because I truth is I may not. But I do, I did plan the dates to say, okay, by this date, I'm gonna understand this espresso. By this date, I'm gonna put out my first blend. And by this date, I'm gonna, you know, I'm building towards, I'm building the training, the knowledge, the skills, and I'm constantly improving. You know, they say uh perfection is uh when you uh what is it, the standard? Perfection, if you have uh if perfection is your standard, you have no standard because there's no such thing as perfection. It's always gonna be work in progress. And I understanding that, I'm constantly improving and moving forward with it. And as a result of that, I I get more excited as a result of planning this training here, the momentum I feel, like I feel excited because I know that there's a new learning journey. Every time I think that I know everything about espresso, I have the carpet pulled under me and I realize that it's almost like I know nothing, that there's a new world, more details that become available to me. And as a result of that, it pulls my interest in. I'm captivated by it. And I just keep moving forward. So again, let's go back to those three steps. One is what are your dreams? Write them down. Two, what is one step that you can take that'll move you in the direction? And three, what is the deadline in which you will do that thing? Again, the more you consolidate that schedule, the more momentum and emotion you're gonna feel because you're gonna be pulling it to you closer by taking actions more frequently. Hope you enjoyed this episode here, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember, I mean, if you have any questions or comments, you can send them to me via my website at www.donnyrouse.com. Again, D-O-N-N-Y-R-A-U-S.com. Remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. God bless you, and I will see you again soon.