The Dream You Don’t Believe Is Possible

I haven’t traveled for work in years.

Between three kids, school commitments, RV life, and my husband’s job as our family’s primary provider, disappearing for a few days to think about my business hasn’t exactly been a regular option.

So when I had the opportunity to spend three days at my business coach’s mastermind retreat this past weekend, I was downright giddy.

And I had plenty to think about, because when my coach asked what we hoped to get out of the retreat, my answer was basically, “I would really like to know what I actually want from this business.”

Almost four years into building it, I was genuinely clueless, and I was a little embarrassed to admit that. I help other people get clear on their businesses for a living, and here I was feeling the pressure of building mine without knowing what I actually wanted it to become.

Maybe you know that feeling, too, when someone asks where you want your business to go and you can tell them what you’re working on, but answering what you actually want is a whole lot harder.

When you’ve put so much into getting where you are, not admitting you’re unsure of where you want to go can feel really uncomfortable, even when you’re proud of what you’ve built.

I started as a freelance VA, became an online business manager, and then started building AI-powered systems. Now I help people build an entire operating system for their business inside Notion, with AI supporting how they run it, and my work has evolved into leading a program and doing higher-ticket strategy and systems consulting.

I didn’t sit down almost four years ago and map all of that out.

I mostly did what my mom always told me to do: follow the opportunity, and each opportunity led me somewhere I couldn’t have pictured when I started and I’d bet that you did something like that too.

But eventually you reach a point where there are plenty of opportunities in front of you, and following one means making a decision about what you actually have room for.

There’s more to protect now, too, because you care about the business you’ve built and the people you serve. You don’t want to keep saying yes without knowing where those yeses are taking you because, as we all know, every yes here is a no to something over there.

Choosing starts to feel heavier than it used to, because you want to make good decisions, but how do you know which opportunity to take when you’re not even sure what you’re choosing toward?!!

So I arrived with a big question mark, and then found out the theme of the retreat happened to be “the next era of your business.” Apparently, I had brought the right question.

The goal I didn’t believe could happen

On Friday, my coach walked us through an exercise called the belief bridge.

She asked us to write down a goal we would absolutely love to achieve, but didn’t actually believe would happen- the one you barely let yourself consider because it feels so far outside what’s possible for you.

Writing mine down scared me far more than I expected. There’s something intimidating about admitting, “I really want this,” and then having to admit, “And I don’t believe it’s actually going to happen for me.”

If a particular dream popped into your head when you read that, but you’ve already started explaining to yourself why it’s unrealistic, that’s the kind of goal she was asking for.

I had to let myself admit I wanted that goal without immediately talking myself out of wanting it because I had no idea how to get it.

Once I’d written it down, she asked us to work backward.

What would need to be true just before that goal could happen, and could we believe that earlier step was even 10 or 20 percent possible?

Once we had that belief, we asked the same question again: what would have to be true before that could happen?

We kept backing it down until we reached something we believed 100 percent, because we already had evidence for it.

For me, that was knowing I can successfully run a high-ticket program and serve clients as a strategy and systems consultant. I believe that because I’m already doing it, and getting back to something I knew I could do was such a relief.

And suddenly I could look at the bridge from where I actually stood, with experience I could trust, and instead of feeling intimidated by how far away the other end seemed, I felt excited!

Then came the question that made the whole thing click: what’s one action you can take to get from the belief you have right now to the next one on the bridge?

Friend, action is where I shine…or so I thought.

Apparently, you can systematize your dreams

The very first step on my bridge is hiring a client success manager to help me serve my program clients, which would give me more room for higher-level consulting work.

I can see how that would work, but I also have some very real feelings about sharing that responsibility with someone else.

Managing people isn’t what scares me. Asking someone to help care for the client experience I’ve poured so much into feels a little like handing over my baby, and even though I could see how it would help, I still felt scared about actually doing it.

Your version might be different, but you probably have something you can see the value in doing while still feeling protective of what would have to change.

Knowing a step makes sense doesn’t automatically make you feel ready to take it, especially when it involves something you care deeply about.

But the action in front of me wasn’t hiring someone or immediately handing anything over. It was getting clear on what that person would actually do and what I would need from them.

Oh my gosh, I knew I could do that much! And the relief I instantly felt was incredible, because I’d gone from feeling the pressure of figuring out where my entire business was headed to realizing that all I needed to do next was take one small step.

I still have fears about hiring the right person, but they don’t have to stop me from writing a job description. That felt doable in a way the big dream hadn’t, and I was genuinely excited to take that little step instead of feeling like I had to somehow become ready for all of it at once.

So while I sat in the airport waiting on my delayed flight (UGH), I wrote it out. At least something useful came out of sitting there waiting to get home.

Then it dawned on me that this is all slightly funny, because breaking something overwhelming into a sequence you can actually follow is literally what I teach people to do with their backend business systems.

My coach had helped me systematize my dreams.

I left excited about where I could be headed, with something concrete to do next, even though I still didn’t believe every part of the big goal was possible.

That’s what I want you to try, too, especially if your business has evolved into something you never planned and you’re wondering what you want its next era to look like.

If admitting what you want feels scary, you don’t have to edit it down to something more reasonable before you write it down. You can want the outrageous thing and still have doubts about whether it will happen, then give yourself a chance to find a first step that feels possible.

Imagine looking at the thing that’s been intimidating you and realizing, “Wait, I could do this part.” That’s the relief I want you to experience, because I know how different I felt leaving with a step I was excited to take instead of the question mark I’d arrived with.

Weekly Challenge

1. Write down the dream you’d love to see happen but don’t really believe is possible, then work backward by asking, “What would need to be true before that could happen?”
2. Keep going until you reach something you fully believe today because you have evidence it’s true.
3. Choose one small action that would help you get from there to the next belief on your bridge.

If you’d like help working through it,​ join the Notion AI Skool community​ and use this week’s AI prompt. It will guide you through the belief bridge the same way my coach guided me, so you can find your own first step instead of getting stuck trying to figure out the whole future at once.

Then hit reply and tell me yours: What’s the big dream you’d love to see happen, but don’t really believe is possible?

I haven’t shared mine here because, honestly, saying it out loud is still a little scary, but I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.