I think every one of us has a crazy, far-fetched dream. Whether it be a more short-term dream like landing an internship at a huge magazine or more long-term like becoming a huge, successful (insert profession of your choice) by age 25. Everyone of us has something that, deep down, we really want more than anything. But how often do we brush our dreams off as crazy and unrealistic and impossible? I read a great article yesterday about even the dreams that appear to be the most crazy are achievable, but require a shift in your thinking right now, and you can start working towards your dreams in 4 small steps.

1. Stop thinking of your dream as a 'dream' and start thinking of it as a GOAL. People tell us dreams are far-off, but goals are unacheivable. If you change how you think about your dreams, you change how you approach them, and thus make them that much more achievable. If you want to someday be president of your own company, that dream is probably always in the back of your head, but thinking of it now as a goal rather than a dream allows you to start planning exactly what you will do to accomplish it.

2. Create of a vision of exactly what it is you want to accomplish. Start coming up with a concrete plan of what you see yourself doing between now and the time you reach your goal – what can you accomplish that will help you on your way up?

3. Break it into smaller goals. This is especially important if your goal is something huge and seemingly unattainable – breaking it into smaller goals and milestones along the way makes it much more realistic and attainable and less daunting of a task.

4. If you have nothing to lose…just do it! This may sound cheesy, but life is about taking risks. Forget your fears and hesitations – no dream was ever achieved that way. If you have nothing to lose by applying for a certain internship/job, submitting an article to a magazine for publication, or doing something else seemingly 'risky' in your field — do it. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by taking such a risk.

Do these 4 steps seem obvious? Maybe. But as the author of the original article said, their power is pretty impressive. Start applying these steps to your dream right now and see the difference in how you think about your dream and how you can achieve it – I can bet you'll see a huge shift right now.

Check out the full article here.