My method

The Dream Plan

One Framework, Five Types of Dreams

Dream — a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.
Plan — a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something; an intention or decision about what one is going to do.

Put together, the Dream Plan is a detailed intention and decision about what you’re going to do in order to achieve a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.

Once you’ve written your apocalyst — a list of everything you want to do, have, and become while there’s still time, the next question is: okay, now what?

That’s what the Dream Plan is for. It’s a method I’ve created and used to take a dream off the list and actually turn it into something I’ve done. It consists of five parts: Specify, Reasons, Action Steps, Short-term Objectives, Evaluate.

It’s helped me pay off $75,000 of debt. Buy an Airstream and actually live in it. Hike in Hawaii. Start this vlog/blog you’re reading right now.

But not every dream behaves the same way. Once you specify a dream and get honest about your reasons for it, you’ll have a sense of what type of dream it is, and that’s what tells you how to build the rest of the plan.

Step 1 + 2: Specify and Reasons

—These two come first, no matter what you’re chasing.

Specify: The more specific you are about what you want, the easier it will be to achieve. The more vibrant you can imagine it, the more motivating it becomes. Ambiguous dreams are not compelling. Write down what you’ve specifically imagined, fantasized, and envisioned for this dream, in as many words as it takes. Add the color and the details.

Reasons: Why did this dream make it onto your apocalyst in the first place? It’s important to get at the feelings underneath the desire, because emotions are what drive us to act. Without reason, there’s no meaning; and if it doesn’t mean anything to you, you won’t care enough to actually do something about it. I use the same three prompts for every dream:

  • “I dream of this because I want…”
  • “I dream of this because I don’t want; I’m tired of; I don’t like…”
  • “I dream of this because…” (anything else you want to add that you haven’t yet)

Know your starting point

Before any next steps, get honest about where you’re actually starting from. What do you already have? What do you already know? What resources (time, money, skill, connections) are already in place, and what’s missing?

Sometimes this is where you find out this dream depends on another goal first. It could be money you need to save, a skill you need to build, equipment you need to get, time you need to carve out, or some other resource you don’t have yet. This isn’t a setback, it’s intel. When I wanted the Airstream, I didn’t have the down payment sitting around, so saving up for that became the dream plan for a while.

If this happens, don’t feel stuck. It just means you have a goal to accomplish before the dream. Name it, and run it through this same method: Specify it, uncover your reasons, know your starting point, then work through the rest of the steps below for that goal first. Once it’s done, circle back to your original dream and pick up where you left off.

Once you’ve specified the dream, uncovered your reasons, and know your starting point, you’re ready for the next step.

Step 3: Name the Dream Type

There are five.

  • Skill Dreams — ongoing practice, no finish line.
    • My example: Be fluent in Italian.
  • Process Dreams — depends on external steps, other people approving, waiting, milestones.
    • My example: Italian citizenship.
  • Build Dreams — you create it, then keep running it.
    • My example: Be a successful blogger/vlogger
  • Acquire Dreams — a specific thing you get.
    • My example: Industrial ear piercing.
  • Experience Dreams — a one-time thing that takes planning, but ends after it happens. Nobody else has to approve but you.
    • My example: Visit New Zealand.
 
One clarifying note: this is a different question than whether your dream is a To Do, To Have, or To Be on your apocalyst. Those categories are about how you phrase a dream when you write it down initially. The type is about how you build the plan to accomplish it. A “To Have” dream, like citizenship, can be a Process type. Don’t expect the two to line up.
 
Quick check: for Process vs. Experience: can you just plan and do this yourself, or does someone else have to select or approve anything first? Self-directed = Experience. Gatekept by another’s decision = Process.

Step 4: Action Steps

Nothing happens until you actually do something. Once your dream has more clarity, it’s time to take action. The hardest part is usually figuring out where to start, so keep your action steps small and immediate:

  • Skill & Acquire — write down one thing you can do now, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow to build momentum.
  • Process — write down the next 3 things you can do that are in your control, regardless of timeline.
  • Build & Experience — write down 3 “launch action items,” tasks that get the thing planned, booked, or running.

Step 5: Short-Term Objectives

These matter for dreams that take consistent effort over time. They keep you focused on the process, not just an outcome that seems too big and too far away to be attainable in the beginning:

  • Skill — determine a Month-End Goal (MEG): a simple, attainable goal for your first month, focused purely on building momentum, not mastery. Paired with a Daily Practice Goal (DPG): a small, consistent daily action — even just 20 minutes, that moves you toward it.
  • Process — determine a Next Milestone, without a fixed date, checked in on only when something actually moves.
  • Build — determine several Launch Milestones, then a Maintenance Rhythm once it’s live.
  • Experience — determine a Target Date with milestones counting down to it.

Step 6: Evaluate

Taking stock of what’s actually happening: what’s working, what isn’t, what to adjust. There are two layers:

  1. a quick reflection after each practice session or step — a couple minutes: what happened? what felt easier? what did I struggle with?
  2. a bigger check-in at set intervals, where you look at the patterns across those quick reflections above and decide what to change going forward.
  • Skill — daily reflections: How did the DPG go? + monthly evaluations: Did I hit my MEG? This will tell you what to adjust in your DPG going forward and to determine your MEG for the following month.
  • Process — triggered-by-movement.
  • Build — weekly or monthly.
  • Acquire & Experience — optional. IntelSquared is about awareness as much as action. After you accomplish an Acquire or Experience dream, ask yourself: What did this give me? What did it show me about myself?

Status

For anything that isn’t a simple one-and-done dream (most often Process, Build, and Experience dreams) I add one more section:

Status — one sentence, updated whenever it changes, to keep track of where a dream in motion currently stands. You’ll see this same section under my Dreams in Action.

The Full Sequence

  1. Write your apocalyst and organize into three categories: To Do, To Have, To Be
  2. Pick a dream to focus on
  3. Specify it, write out your reasons, and know your starting point
  4. Name the type — Skill, Process, Build, Acquire, or Experience
  5. Build your Dream Plan around that type
  6. Live it, track your Status, and evaluate

Five parts, five types, one method that flexes to fit whatever you’re chasing.

It’s never too late.

— Daniela