The women’s majlis: realising dreams may be closer than you think

As I write this, I find myself at the end of a very long day, or to be more precise, a long two years. Tomorrow, we finally open the doors of The Hundred Wellness Centre, a dream that I’ve been working on every day for the past two years. This dream started six years ago, sparked by a passion for Pilates. I’ve faced many challenges and trials, but, looking back, I’m very proud of my achievements. This article, however, is not about me – it’s about you.

What’s your dream? Are there any beliefs or thoughts that are stopping you from achieving it? Let me give you some good news: you can achieve your dreams if you eliminate just one thing – fear. Fear is an extremely limiting behaviour that stops us from moving forward and achieving our goals. So how can you eliminate fear? Just make the decision to move forward, close your eyes and jump. There’s no magic formula. You might be scared of taking the risk and failing, or making mistakes along the way. But without taking the risks, you will never know what you’re capable of, and you’ll live in the shadows of doubts and “what ifs”. What is the worst thing that is going to happen? Failure? Well there’s no harm in failing; sometimes it’s actually good, so that you learn from the process and get closer to your dream. Remember, life is not about winning all the time.

Achieving your dream will give you a purpose in life and a zest that you might be missing. Some people go through life without a purpose. Wake up, go to work, come back – the routine goes on and on. Your life purpose or dream is yours, so it can be anything, small or big. We’re not talking about building towers or becoming millionaires, unless that’s what you want, obviously. Being a great mum or the best employee in your company, these are all great goals – and as long as you have passion, do it right and have this purpose mapped out, you’ll achieve it.

I believe that your life purpose should be something that you love with passion. Something that you think of day and night.

The second lesson that I learnt from being an entrepreneur is never take “no” for an answer. Along the way, you’ll face many “nos”, and people will try to discourage you, but stay strong and don’t quit. I visualise my goals at the end of a long green pathway and every day I see myself a few steps closer to them.

Always do your best to stay positive. It might not always be possible, especially during hard times, but talk yourself through it – keep repeating: “I can do it and I will do it.” Things might not go as planned and you might be let down sometimes, but this is all OK. A friend once told me, if you cannot change it, celebrate it. And then move on.

My final advice is visualise your dream every day. Put together your own vision board to stick all the pictures, quotes and anything else related to your dream on, so you can see them day-in and day-out. Close your eyes and visualise yourself doing it, as if it’s already a reality.

Asma Hilal Lootah is the founder and owner of The Hundred Pilates Studio and The Hundred Wellness Centre, and the winner of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders as the best business in health care.

[ weekend@thenational.ae ]