After the quietest year of her career artistically, British actress Rachel Izen was ready to pack her bags and put her dreams in the big city behind her. Then she got the call. After months of little to no work Izen received the chance to live out her dream of performing on Broadway after landing the role of Madame Thénardier in the French classic Les Misérables. Sitting in her dressing room at the Imperial Theater she recounted the story of how she turned her dreams into goals and goals into reality.
New York attracts many people in the pursuit of following their dreams due to its abundance of opportunities. Like Izen, these one of kind opportunities attracted small town girl and aspiring Broadway star, Deanna Giulietti. Giulietti is currently attending Hofstra University in Long Island, New York studying drama and is preparing for her first post Graduation role in a Scottish Production of Rent.
Everyone is aspiring to do something, whether it’s being a Broadway star or losing twenty pounds. Laura Ann Allahverdi has been working as a life coach for six years after attending school for psychology. Her mission is to bring people to live beyond what they may think they’re capable of. Allahverdi believes that although everyone’s dreams are different the methods for achieving them are similar. When it comes to dreams she says “it’s all about the story you tell yourself in your mind and changing that story.”
Dreams versus Goals
People often use the two words interchangeably. If a person wants to achieve something they may refer to it as either a dream or a goal. Izen says, “a dream can be intangible in the fact that you can’t touch it, if you really dissect what a dream is, it’s something that isn’t real. Its fine if you have a goal that is feasible.” When asked about her dreams and goals Giulietti explained that for her there was a difference between the two. She said, “ My dream is to do theatre all over the world, the goal is Broadway.” According to Allahverdi “dreams are the overall mission of where you want to go, to maintain that mission you have to make smaller goals along the way.”
The Process
In order to attain a dream one must put in the required work, if you want to lose weight you need to change your diet and so on. Allahverdi has her clients set the smallest goals possible that they know for sure that they can attain. She said, “that’s how you build momentum toward getting what you want. You attain something and then go on to the next goal.” Still in the process of reaching her dream, Giulietti takes acting and dance lessons, auditions for everything she can, and goes to see numerous shows in order to study other actors. Izen said she trained very hard as a dancer before reaching the Broadway stage but she attributes much of her success to her strong sense of self-belief saying that just two weeks before auditioning for Les Misérables she remembers walking down the street repeating to herself “you’re going to be okay.”
Having a Plan B
It’s common for people to set up alternatives in life to their main dreams. However, it may be possible that having a plan B can deter a person from putting there all into plan A. Despite her love for the arts, Giulietti initially majored in Public Relations but it wasn’t long before she realized this wasn’t enough for her. She said “I had no music or drama in my life and I went crazy I became a drama major and I realized this is all I want to do this is all I can do.” When asked about her beliefs on having a plan B, Izen simply shrugged her shoulders and said, “No, that means you haven’t got all your energy in one place.” According to Allahverdi it’s not about having a plan B but rather having a different method of getting to your plan A. She says “A plan B is fine as long as it contributes to their goal and helps them to get there”. Allahverdi tells her clients that they can 100% have anything they want in life as long as they take the necessary steps.
Dealing with Setbacks
As Giulietti prepares to step out into the world as a professional she says “if I’m auditioning and auditioning and not getting any work that may make me want to give up.” One of the hardest parts of working toward a dream is dealing with the setbacks and no matter what the dream may be they will occur. Allahverdi says she doesn’t believe in going backwards and that people are constantly moving forward despite the ups and downs. She said, “If you get news that makes you sad or distracts you from your goal be upset about it but how long are you going to be upset about it. Are you going to be upset for one day and then get back up or are you going to let it stop you from ever pursuing anything. Even the downs in life contribute to your success in some way. ” With an acting career spending more than 30 years and numerous ups and downs under her belt Izen believes that every job prepared her for the next one, and every setback happens for a reason. She said, “If I haven’t got a few auditions the one that I do nail works out because if I had got any previous auditions I wouldn’t be available for this one.” Izen compares her career to a Scottish phrase often said by her husband “what’s for you will not go by you.” As Izen’s twitter bio states she is currently “living the dream.”
Allahverdi’s key advice is to build a better lifestyle by taking tiny steps forward. Allahverdi offers a free e-guide on her website lauraslifecoaching.com to help people deal with the obstacles in the way of getting what they want.