The first step to conquering your dream of publication is owning that dream. But most people don’t fully commit to their dreams. They accept a level of success within their comfort zone, “dream” of bigger, but crush that dream with a multitude of self-imposed limitations.

In his book, Put Your Dream to the Test, Dr. John C. Maxwell outlines 10 questions to help you see and seize your dreams – the first being the question of ownership. In order to own your dream, you must first be sure it is your dream and not the dream someone else has for you, then commit to that dream in a way that assumes no limits to your potential for success.

But how can you take ownership of your dream in a way that assumes you couldn’t fail? Here’s a five-part method for doing just that.

1) Be willing to bet on yourself. You may succeed if nobody else believes in you, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.

2) Lead your life instead of accepting your life – making the right decisions and managing those decisions daily. The power of choice is the greatest power that a person possesses.

3) Love what you do and do what you love. Successful people – those who see and seize their dreams – love what they do and do what they love. They allow their passion and talent to guide them. Why? Because talent, purpose, and potential always come hand in hand.

4) Don’t compare yourself or your dream to others – when you compare yourself with those superior, you feel inferior. When you compare yourself with those inferior, you feel superior. When you stop comparing yourself with others, you feel empowered. Success is doing the best you can with what you have wherever you start in life.

5) Believe in your vision for the future even when others don’t understand you. You are not an accident. You are here for a reason. If success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but doesn’t feel good in your soul, it is not success at all.

The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped. Stop imposing limits on your dreams. Take ownership of your dream and move forward today!

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Eric Schmieder is the Membership Marketing Manager for TAA. He has taught computer technology concepts to curriculum, continuing education, and corporate training students since 2001. A lifelong learner, teacher, and textbook author, Eric seeks to use technology in ways that improve results in his daily processes and in the lives of those he serves. His latest textbook, Web, Database, and Programming: A foundational approach to data-driven application development using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, MySQL, and PHP, First Edition, is available now through Sentia Publishing.