Have you stopped yourself from going after what you really want?

In this episode of Faith Fueled Living, Kristin Fitch sits down with elite success coach and host of the top ranked Dream Think Do podcast, Mitch Matthews, to talk about what it really takes to pursue your God-given dreams.

They unpack why so many people hold themselves back, how fear quietly limits growth, and what it looks like to give yourself permission to want more. This conversation is practical. You’ll learn how to take small, consistent steps toward your goals, even if you feel stuck or unsure where to start.

If you’ve been feeling disconnected from your dreams, this episode will help you shift your mindset, take action, and move forward with clarity and confidence.

You’ll also hear how community, encouragement, and simple daily habits can create real momentum in your life.

Topics include Christian mindset, pursuing purpose, overcoming fear, goal setting, personal growth, faith and ambition, and taking action toward your dreams.

Takeaways

• You need to give yourself permission to pursue your dreams
• Small daily action builds real momentum over time
• Fear doesn’t mean stop. It means step forward differently
• Clarity often comes after action, not before
• Community plays a key role in staying encouraged and accountable
• Curiosity opens doors that fear tries to shut
• You don’t need a full plan to begin. You need a next step

Connect with Mitch at MitchMatthews.com or grab his Making Time for Your Next Chapter Workshop here- https://mitchmatthews.com/time - use code Kristin to get it free

Grab the Rewire Your Mind: From Negativity to Joy- download here.

Grab the Joy Rising- Daily Gratitude & Joy Journal here.

Download My Free Joyful Living Devotional: https://kristinfitch.com/devotional

Ready to take your first step towards a more joyful, faith-filled life? Download our Reignite Your Passion Workbook and start living with purpose today!

Christian podcast, pursue your purpose, God given dreams, Christian mindset, overcoming fear, personal growth Christian, goal setting, faith and purpose, taking action on dreams, Christian women podcast, finding your calling, step into your purpose, dream again, faith based personal development, confidence and clarity, intentional living, success coaching Christian, build momentum, faith and ambition

Hey.

Hey, beautiful friends.

And welcome back to Faithfield Living.

I have an episode I can't wait to share with you today, and this episode is going to inspire you, it's going to encourage you.

And today Mitch Matthews is joining me and I'm just excited because we're going to jump into some things that we're both so passionate about encouraging people in their lives to do, whether it's in their business, in their careers, or whether it's in their personal lives or in their faith.

But we're just, we're going to dive into having or giving ourselves permission to go after our passions, to dream bigger and to step into those dreams.

We're going to talk about how can we be intentional and step into possibility and creativity and wonder so that we can show up doing all the things that we are uniquely made to do in this world.

We're both people of faith from a Christian lens, and so we believe God designed us uniquely to love these things, to have a heart for certain things.

And so I'm excited to share this episode because I think too many of us press pause or we've never made the time yet to go step into more of what we've been designed for.

So welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically and purposefully.

Each week we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work, care for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

Mitch Matthews is a success coach, speaker and the creator of the podcast Dreamthink do, which is now in the top 10, 0.5% of all podcasts, where he helps high achieving leaders and entrepreneurs dream bigger, think better, and do more of what they were put on the planet to do.

He's worked with organizations like Nike, NASA and Disney, and he's a creator of the Authority Bridge, proven process that helps professionals turn their experience into a coaching and speaking business they love.

I'm excited for this conversation today because we're both encouragers.

We love helping and working with people and having conversations around what makes us be able to step into our lives with more impact?

How can we build things that matter?

How can we connect with others in a deeper way?

How can faith be at the center of so much we're doing and we're going to talk about?

How do we step into the goals and dreams we have and how do we remove the roadblocks that might be standing our way to step into more and to experience more of what God has for us and wants for us in our lives.

It's an honor to be here.

You're doing great work, so I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Well, thank you as.

As you as.

Well.

I'm loving everything that you've been putting out, you know, for.

For, you know, 10 years on the podcast or more.

And then, of course, longer than that, doing so many other great things.

So can you just share with us a little bit about what life looks like and kind of what you're up to now?

Yeah, absolutely.

So I, as you said, I've got a podcast called Dream Think.

Do I get to be the CEO of a training company where we offer coaching, speaking, online training, and media with the podcasting and things like that?

So I love it because God got me into a position where I have a short attention span, and so this position allows me to use that as a strength, not a weakness.

So I do love encouraging people.

I feel like one of the reasons God put me on the planet is to help people figure out why they were put on the planet.

But I know that for me, my identity is as an encourager, helping encouragers and encouraging encouragers.

And, boy, when I'm in that zone, it just flows and I have fun.

But it also has allowed us to build a successful business that has impacted people around the world.

So it's just a true honor and a whole lot of fun.

I love it.

Well, so, you know, one of the things that I just want to start off with is I think some people, when they hear words like dream, you know, like, oh, what are your dreams?

What do you want to accomplish?

Right.

What legacy do you want to leave?

I think sometimes we think it's, you know, it's like, oh, well, I don't even have time for that.

You know, I'm a busy.

I'm just trying to work.

I'm trying to get dinner ready at night.

I'm trying to write.

You're just doing all the things, and we just.

We stay busy, a lot of us.

And I'm not saying those things.

A lot of those things are still good things, right?

Like, you know, providing for families, you know, caring for families, for, you know, our relationships, our spouses.

So they're good things.

But sometimes we don't make the space and the time to be intentional and to actually slow down enough to say, what is it that I want to build in this lifetime or be a part of in this lifetime that matters?

Right?

And so I think for me, the first thing is, why is that so important that we do that if we're not already doing that in our lives,.

I, it's so important to talk about this.

And in, in pure honesty, you know, we have this podcast called Dream Think New that's In the top point 5% of podcasts, which is, I think, God's grace.

And I love doing it.

But I had this wrestling match because I did not want to have dream in the name because I have a love hate relationship with the word dream.

My mom is as a cpa, my dad was a warden in a prison.

So we had a very grounded, practical household, very loving.

But we didn't talk about dreams all the time.

And oftentimes when we did talk about dreaming, it felt like rainbows, butterflies, little ponies, you know, the kind of the soft stuff.

But what's interesting is, is when I started to dive into the research years ago of going after goals and people who innovated in industries and built successful companies, I realized there was a three step process, and that was to dream first, think second, and do.

And there really had to be time where somebody was, whether it was an individual, whether it was a team, whether it was a family, they gave themselves permission to say what if?

They had to give themselves some space to be able to say, okay, what could we do?

What should be done?

And I realized that if somebody gives themselves just a little bit of space and time to do that before they move into the thinking portion, you know, it's dream, think, do.

And I, I hope that's catchy.

But it is a three step sequence that the thinking, the strategy, the planning, it's important, but it can't start too early because I know for me, I'm, I'm a recovering worrier.

So I was a black belt level worrier as a kid.

I would worry myself sick and get so sick that I would confound the doctors, you know, with, you know, missing weeks of school at a time, all those things all because of anxiety and worry.

And what's interesting about it is, is that I'm really good at worrying.

So some of that helps me to be a good planner, helps me to be a good strategist because I can see all the different ways something could go poorly.

So I'm good at designing a plan and a strategy to help avoid some of those fires.

But I realized if I started planning too early, I would start to shut down those dreams because I would, I would see all of the potential challenges, all the ways these things could burn to the ground.

And so I would, I would stop before I even got started.

So I always say you got to give yourself some.

Some space, some permission to say, what if?

And.

And to be able to say, what would you love to do?

What would you love to experience?

What would be something you'd want to try this year?

And don't worry about the plan just yet.

Just give yourself some space and time to do that.

And it's amazing to.

When you, when you track back any of the big breakthroughs, any of the big innovations in the world, anybody that, that really change things, whether it's in their community and their church, in their organization, it usually started with somebody giving themselves just a little bit of permission to drink.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, you definitely bring up a good point, which is sometimes we think it's such a big idea or something.

I've never done that.

We do.

We lock up or we kind of.

That fear kicks in, right?

And we think.

I don't know, like, for instance, I have a girlfriend and some years ago she told me she's a.

She works for the school system, but she's a therapist of some sort, speech therapist.

And she said, oh, I have this dream.

And it was about opening this little shop and making these certain things, you know, down where they have a cottage, like a beach cottage.

And I said, well, are you going to start it this summer?

Right.

She has her summers off and she's like, no, no.

And she was so afraid about keeping the stability of having her income right in her retirement.

And I'm not saying somebody should go and be reckless or anything, but what I am saying is that security, right, of knowing I have this thing, and she was pretty unhappy in her job, was holding her back from even taking one step forward, which is like, have you ever even made the, the item, the goodie, whatever it was for your friends?

Have you ever offered it at Christmas?

Does anybody want to buy this?

So sometimes I think the fear of the, the whole picture or the bigger dream, it does.

It scares us to the point where we don't even take that one next step.

Yep.

It's so true.

And I love what you're, what you're getting at.

When, when I talk with people about their dreams, that, that is one of that first.

The first questions I love to ask is how could you experiment with it, right?

You don't have to quit your job.

You don't have to move to Fiji.

You don't have to, you know, blow everything up.

What's one way that you could start?

And, and I'm grateful for the time we live in.

Like, I'M I'm so grateful that God had me live in a time where we have air conditioning, you know, where we can drive cars as opposed to covered wagons, you know, all those things.

But we also, we live in a time where there are infinite ways to experiment with something, you know, and to your point, like, if somebody has an idea for a shop, that's exactly right.

To be able to go, okay, well, maybe don't go out and lease a space.

What's.

What's one way to build.

Build five of those widgets and just see what it's like to sell them on Facebook, Marketplace, or on ebay.

Right.

Just to experiment with the process.

Because some people, as they do that, they're like, oh, my gosh, I love this.

Some people, as they do this, they go, I'm never going to do that again.

Both of those things are success because you've tried something, you learn something, you experience something, but also you either know that you can double down and say, hey, this is definitely the right track, or you just saved yourself a decade of problems and pain.

Right.

So I love the idea of giving yourself that, that permission and space to experiment before you go all in.

I'm a big fan of small steps of faith over blind leaps of faith.

Love it.

Well, yeah, for instance, I like cooking, but I know it never comes to be a chef.

I don't want to work weekends and holidays.

Right.

Like, I was like, exactly.

There's a lot that can.

Yeah, I can like food and not, like, you know, want that career, that lifestyle.

So, yeah, I mean, it's like that you can be good at something, you could want to do something, but until you actually tip your toe in.

Right.

One step at a time, you don't know.

Right.

Maybe it's an adjacent something sometimes, you know, so.

Yep.

I love that.

I so agree with you.

So the other thing I did want to mention is a lot of times, I think also we have been conditioned, right, culturally, from our families of origin, all of these things where we took a path that often can be a career path because it felt safe, or our family was in that industry.

And so I think what happens sometimes is we are afraid to.

To step off the path we're on because it has stability, maybe it's a good, you know, has a great income, whatever it might be.

We're afraid to step up, even though we have that feeling like, I know there's something more here.

I know I want to do something else.

And I know, I'm sure you're obviously familiar with it.

Too.

Who isn't at this point, but.

Right.

The top five regrets of the dying.

One of the top regrets is that people didn't live the life that was truest to themselves because of other people's opinions or perspective or pressure.

And, you know, so one thing is, I just want to keep encouraging people.

Let's not wait, you know, until we're kind of at the end of life to say, is this really what I want?

And it comes down to that thing, like you said, take the time to even know what is it you'd want to try or experience.

But what else would you just say to that?

Because I think it.

Once again, it's giving yourself permission, but it's.

It's also giving yourself permission to say, like, am I staying the course because it's comfortable or because I'm afraid what other people will think?

Yeah, it's so, so important.

You know, one of the things that shocks people when we talk about dreams, especially since I have the podcast called Dream Think New.

When we dive into this, one of the first things I will suggest is dumping the word dream.

Because what's interesting is, is that some people want to dismiss dreaming as, oh, the rainbows, butterflies, little fuzzies.

But a lot of people actually feel a lot of pressure with dreams, like to say, oh, do I only have one dream?

Does.

Does each person only have one big dream?

And what if I get that wrong?

Or what if my big dream disrupts everything?

And so the word dream can have a lot of weight to it that you don't need, especially as you're.

As you're thinking about these things.

So I love to ask a couple of other questions, too, to be able to say, hey, what's something you'd like to experience this year?

Right?

And what that does is that doesn't have to say, hey, what's your big dream?

Or what's your dream that you want to pursue?

It's like, this year, what's something you want to experience more?

Is that learning?

Is it joy?

Is it growth?

Is it relationships?

Ask yourself that question and see where it takes you, because it's interesting.

Just asking yourself the experience question doesn't seem to have the same weight to it for a lot of people, but it does open the door to new possibilities.

And I do think it's about opening doors.

I think you just said, you know, a lot of people.

I know for me, you know, I went into, after college, I went into business, to business sales, and then I went into pharmaceutical sales.

Wasn't the dream, it was A part of my journey, right?

And those doors open to me now.

I walked through those doors boldly.

I had a lot of fun.

I made some money until I walked through a door that led me to a bad fit job.

And what I'm grateful for now is that bad fit job woke me up, that I wasn't supposed to be on the career track that I had taken through a series of open doors.

It wasn't pleasant, it hurt at the time.

But what I was.

I was grateful for was that open door woke me up to say, hey, which door do I intentionally want to walk through next?

And for me, that meant starting a business on the side of coaching and speaking and kind of getting back to those things that I was naturally good at.

But in that situation, I couldn't just wait for somebody to open the door.

I had to go find the door and open it myself.

Absolutely.

And I mean, I definitely talk about that a lot as well, which is keep learning.

Keep stepping into what you're curious about.

You know, I mean, I.

At any given time, I'm like, learning about 10 different things, right?

Like, oh, I want to learn to be a better, better gardener.

I want to be a.

Learned what.

Whatever it might be.

Right.

Self improvement, holistic health, whatever, whatever it is.

But it's like, for me, being curious leads us to determining, do I want to do more with this just as a interest level, or is there something more here.

Right.

That I want to step into it and more of a professional sense.

Right.

Or a podcast or whatever it might be.

So.

But I think that's also, you know, it's changing your perspective because there's those of us that tend to be lifelong learners at every turn, and then there's people that.

That's not where they start.

And so that's a harder or a newer posture to be in, I think.

Yep, absolutely.

And I appreciate your willingness to stay open and try new things.

I know sometimes that can feel overwhelming for people.

Sometimes that can feel a little bit like, oh, I don't have time for that.

So one of the other things that I love to inject into this kind of conversation is the topic of seasons.

Giving yourself permission to say, hey, for this season, I'm going to learn about this.

I'm not going to try to learn everything about everything, but for the next three months, I'm going to try this.

I'm just going to learn more.

And it might be a season of a night class of cooking, you know, trying something new.

One of my favorite examples of this is somebody that that I had on my podcast named Sean Askinosi.

And Sean was a wildly successful trial attorney.

But deep down on the inside, he was kind of losing some of that fire.

Nobody knew it.

He was still winning in the courtroom.

He was, you know, an unstoppable force when he was on a case.

But he knew that foundation felt like it was cracking a little bit.

And we know now that if you start to feel burnout or something, that's even called bored out where you're.

You're just kind of tired of what you do, one of the best things to do is inject a little bit of novelty.

And that's what Sean did.

He didn't burn down his law practice.

He didn't quit, move around the world, but he did take a night class on cooking.

He was just kind of curious about cooking.

What's interesting is that first night class, he figured out, oh, I'm not good at this at all.

Like, he really was not good.

Each night they tried something new, and just about everything went down literally in flames.

But one night they got to chocolate.

And Sean was good at that.

Plus, he enjoyed it.

He was like, oh, this is it tastes good.

It's fun.

And so he took another class just about chocolate.

And what's interesting about Sean is that he kept just giving himself these little seasons of going deeper, and he continued to go deeper.

And then, you know, a few months later, his daughter started to get into it, and they started to experiment with it.

And then he started doing a little research on the industry.

And then a year later, he and his daughter actually went to one of these.

I think it was.

I can't remember if it was Nicaragua or the Philippines, but they went to a grower.

They went.

They went right to the heart of where this all started.

And they started to find out about these growers were kind of being abused by the industry.

And Sean, of course, had a heart for justice.

That was his day job.

That's where he was really good.

And so he started to lean into that side of it.

Not just the creative side of it, but the justice side of it.

And fast forward, they now have Ask an OC Chocolate.

It's small batch chocolate based out of Missouri.

It's one of Oprah's favorite chocolates.

He's been featured in a number of magazines, number of newspapers.

They're shipping Ask an OC Chocolate around the world.

But they also have open book finances where they partner with their growers, and their growers know how much they're making.

They.

They.

It's it's one of those things where they are truly partners through and through, and they're changing the industry.

It didn't start and happen overnight.

It happened through a number of seasons of experiments.

But if you look at Sean now, he wasn't that smiley when he was a trial lawyer, but now he's got a big old goofy grin all the time.

And it's one of those things.

You just never know where those little experiments and those seasons might lead you.

But I know Sean's grateful.

He gave himself the space and time to try it out.

I love that.

Yeah.

I mean, one.

One quote I really like.

It's by Pastor Carolyn Hawes, but it's your comfort zone is God's greatest enemy zone.

And I think it's so true because it's when we get your.

Just the story.

You explained what I was saying.

It's when we're not willing to get a little uncomfortable, whether that's for God and what he's calling to.

Whether that's for going to a new cooking class or, you know, we're both married, but it's like there's, you know, women or men at any age that, you know, they're either widowed, they're divorced, and sometimes I talk to some of them and they're so afraid to put themselves out of there, right?

They're afraid to get uncomfortable or whatever the thing is.

But the point is, you have to remember that it's through getting a little uncomfortable or being dis.

Or having discomfort that we actually have the.

We stretch ourselves and we grow, right?

But without that, it's just like the garden.

The seed has to push through the soil, right?

To.

To actually become a plant that is not comfortable, I'm sure, for this little growing plant.

But that's where you have to go.

You have to go beyond.

And so even the story you just told us, it's about that.

How can you stretch yourself in some way?

Because it's those little things that make you happy or you go, wow, this is so fun, the chocolate making or whatever thing for any of us that then it's excitement, right?

It's enthusiasm.

It's finding little glimmers of joy and.

Or like, aha.

Moments that.

Those are the things that even.

Whether it's your regular job or whether you're stepping into something new, that's where the.

The.

Those little moments come, right?

It's not normally sitting at my computer where I have, you know, great ideas or something that I want to pursue.

It's when I'm doing something Else.

Right.

It's not in the work often.

It's in the, the other moments where we take time to do something a little different.

It's so true.

It's one of my mentors in the faith often will say, God's not afraid to put you in situations that are uncomfortable.

And it's like, and, and it's interesting.

I, I love this story.

There's so many stories in the Bible that I love.

But I so appreciate the story of Joshua.

And if you look back, you know, Joshua got a whole book, so, you know, his story was important.

Right.

But Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land.

He had been mentored by Moses.

He was Moses right hand man.

He was One of the 12 scouts that was called to look at the promised land.

And he and Caleb had said yes to the promised land when 10 Scouts said no to the promised land.

And over 40 years, he got trained up specifically to be prepared to lead the Israelites into the promised land.

What I love about that is that in Joshua 1, when it's time, God says, josh, it's time for you to lead them into the promised land.

This is what I prepared you for.

If you look at that chapter, there's three different times where God to Joshua says, be bold and courageous.

Now I thought about that for the longest time, like, isn't that great?

And then I started to think, wait, especially being a dad.

Yeah.

You don't tell somebody to be bold and courageous.

They're already bold and courageous.

You tell somebody to be bold and courageous when they're everything but that.

Right.

When they're scared out of their minds.

And he had to say it three times, which means Joshua was probably quaking in his boots as he was stepping into that next thing, as he was opening that door that God had called him to.

Right.

And what I love about that too though is that I think God, what God said to Joshua, God is also saying to us, he's saying, be bold and courageous.

Not just because you're talented, be bold and courageous, not because you're prepared.

Be bold and courageous.

For I am with you wherever you go.

Right.

And that's what I love, is that I think it's so tempting that when we step into an experiment, try something new, it's really easy to assume that if there's tension there, if, if there's a little fear, this must not be God.

Like, well, no, that's, that's not it.

God's willing to step into that tension with us.

He's helping, you know, he's willing to help us navigate those storms.

Right?

He wants to be in it with us because he's, I think, so often saying, kiddo, you can't believe what's on the other side.

Like, he's, he's already saying, I've seen what's on the other side.

This is going to be awesome.

Be bold and courageous.

So I know your listeners, you know, they're, they're, they're.

There's a good chance that maybe God's putting something on their heart right now.

Like, as we're talking about what that experiment might be, and it doesn't have to be quitting your job.

It doesn't have to be moving to the other side of the planet.

But as we're talking about this, there's a good chance that everybody that's listening might be thinking of that thing that they've been thinking about lately where there's like equal parts excitement and wanting to throw up just a little bit as they think about it.

It's like, yeah, well, what if that could be the conversation starter with God to say, what could that next step be?

What could that experiment be on that thing?

And just see where it takes you.

Absolutely.

Well, two, two quick things.

One is, I mean, it's, it's said so many times the Bible, lots of pastors talk about this in books they've written.

But God often is waiting for us to take a step in faith before he's going to show up, right?

And, you know, he might show up or he might give us the idea, the dream that.

But it's like, he's not going to just do it, all right?

He's waiting for us to do something.

It can be serving, it could be anything.

But the point is, he's saying, I need you to partner with me and do you to step, right, step out and do something.

And so, you know, once again, we can't just wait, you know, on him only.

We have to actually do what we're able to do or what we're able to try.

You know, I think that's important.

The other thing I'd say, and I know you talk about this and maybe you can share this or a different example, but I think it's also the power of speaking either your dream or your goal or just a future you want for yourself and your family, or speaking it out loud or sharing it with somebody, even a trusted friend or someone.

So I know even way back, you share the story about having all your friends over to write down their dreams, but you can give any example you want, But I just remember that one from.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

So thanks so much for bringing that up.

So, yeah, a number of years ago, I was working on one of our entrepreneurial dreams, and everything had been clicking.

And then in one month, everything fell apart.

We ran out of time, we ran out of options, we ran out of money.

And I'll never forget, I was sitting in my office, and I would love to say I was praying, but I was more lamenting, you know, like, God, what did you do to us?

You know?

And as I was praying about what our next steps could be, and honestly, I was thinking of all the different ways I should try to walk away from this or run away from this idea.

He hit me with this thought, kiddo, you're trying to do this alone.

And, you know that my first response was, yeah, you know, but, yeah, I was like, well, okay.

And, and then I started to think, well, if I'm gonna ask, you know, I, I could ask for help.

But then I started to think, who could I ask for help?

And if I asked my friends for help, and this is my dream, I don't know my friend's dreams.

And so I had this idea.

It's funny, I, I went to my wife and I, I, I threw this idea out.

What if we invite our friends over to our house, we ask everybody what their dreams are, have them write them down on, on piece of paper, we put them up on the walls, and then we just see if we can help each other out.

You know, maybe they could help us, we could help them and just see what happens.

And this is totally proof positive to my, that I married up.

Because my wife said, sure.

You know, I think she was thinking, well, what could it hurt?

We're running out of money and we're running out of time.

Why not?

And I'm a terrible, terrible party planner.

Kirsten.

So I, this was Saturday morning, so I wrote this email, my wife and I actually wrote the email, and I put in the subject line, big Dream Gathering.

Because I thought if we put Big Dream committee, nobody's coming to that party.

And I made it for that following Tuesday night.

And I basically, you know, I put the basics of what we thought we were going to do in this email, and we send it to 31 friends, and to our shock and amazement, 29 of them came.

And, you know, I joke.

It's absolutely true.

We're Midwesterners, and we made it a potluck.

So I know that helped our numbers.

But what was interesting was, and I think the most surprising Element was a few people came knowing what at least one dream was.

And we call those the super dreamers.

They're like, they're on fire.

They can tell you about 20 dreams right now and that's great.

Those always exist.

But when I started to talk with our friends about the experience and why they came, Mo said, hey, when I got your email, I had no idea how to respond.

I had no idea what some of my dreams were.

And we have amazing friends who were successful entrepreneurs, executives, leaders, parents.

So you know, for them to admit that it was a true honor, but they said we came to figure it out.

And they kind of thought, well, maybe if we could see other people's dreams that would help us, you know, jar some old dreams or wake up some old dreams or you know, maybe think of some new dreams.

And that's exactly what happened.

And what was supposed to go for one night we lost control of literally and it went for a full week and, and we had dreams all over the walls of our house and people connecting and there was all sorts of things.

It was a true God thing because we had all sorts of connections that made no sense.

There were people submitting dreams from other parts of the world, like, hey, put this dream up, you know, all these kinds of things.

And people connected, they encouraged and they launched and our dream got back on track and we were able to get our product in stores by Christmas.

But what's wild about that though is that first big dream gathering then sparked this movement where we've now done big dream gatherings around the country with thousands of people and the same thing plays out.

We always have some super dreamers that come and they know exactly what their dreams are.

But most people come just to do that important thing of dream together, to give yourself permission to walk into some possibility.

And I will always say that one of the best ways to figure out some of your own dreams is to talk with others about their dreams.

Ask, get curious about, hey, what might some of your friends dreams be, what might some of your kids dreams be?

And just create a space to be able to explore that.

Because it there is, there's power in writing it down.

I know there's data even that shows that you can double your chances of achieving a goal or a dream just by writing it down.

And then there's more data that says if you want to double those odds, not only write it down, but tell someone.

Now I do think it's important to speak to though that you want to be careful with who you talk to about your dreams because I do know that there are some people in life that just feel like it's their God given gift to shut things down.

Right.

To keep people safe.

I had, I had an uncle who used to believe that he, God put him on the planet to keep everyone safe.

So he's going to shoot down every idea that might involve some risk.

So I would never tell that uncle about my dreams.

Right.

But it's amazing.

Just even picking a couple of friends or a couple of family members where you can be that person for them makes it more likely they're going to be that person for you.

And say what?

Three people dreaming together can become an unstoppable force?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I love that.

I mean, I think it just obviously it just speaks to.

We need community.

Right.

We need people to encourage us, even if we're the encouragers and.

Right.

You kind of alluded to this earlier, but it can be hard to ask for help if that's not something you use that muscle a lot.

Or it can be hard to ask for certain help, especially if you're like, you know, this isn't where I want.

Or like you said you were, you were kind of stuck with the process of getting that product out, you know, but then you came up with a creative way of how you could at least get support behind you and enthusiasm behind the idea.

And so.

And then also all these other people learn and help and kind of lift each other up.

And so, you know, that's another thing is just to remind everybody that might be listening today that it's so important, you know, that the top.

Speaking it, writing it down, sharing it with somebody, of course, somebody you trust or a group that you trust.

But it's also true, like get around the dreamers, the creatives, get around the people that are doing things because that data is there too.

The people that you surround yourself with, with, Right.

The people that go and they're working, you know, whatever, they're in a group of people.

There's examples from, you know, every decade of people that got around other writers and they all became really amazing online writers or you know, people that go and work at, I mean, I'm sorry, go and build something in an incubator.

And then, you know, they have all these mentors and help rise them up much quicker.

So it's so important that we seek out people to be around that can kind of rise with us and we rise with them.

Totally.

So true.

So true.

But we have to seek that out that often.

It doesn't often happen, you know, without some Intentionality.

And so that is so true.

But that's also why I, your listeners are listening to you.

Right.

And listening to this podcast is this is one of those ways to get bolstered, to say, okay, now I've at least got the energy to think, who are those two people?

That might be the people for me to.

To be able to say, hey, I. I don't need to try to encourage everybody, but I am going to be encouraging for these two friends or I'm going to be really encouraging in this way with my kiddos.

And I think that that is.

It's so, so important because that's.

That's the richness of life, right?

Absolutely.

So let's flip the Sherman it to what is standing in the way, right, of so many of us stepping into this life that we want and curating life we want, whether that's new dreams or whether it's just maybe we want to step off, you know, get out of the career we're in and step into something else in the next, you know, couple years.

But what's holding us back?

What are.

What do you find?

Or when you work with people, that kind of comes to the surface there.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

So with the big dream gathering, what's interesting is that it becomes a laboratory for dreaming.

And one of the patterns that we've seen time and time again is with.

With when people post their dreams, they can write about their dream, but then they can also write about.

They can list anything that they've got already, but also they can list what they need.

Right.

And what's interesting about that?

And.

And I usually will kick that off with a little bit of a talk to inspire people and get them going.

But I will say, hey, you might be tempted to.

At the top of your list of the things you need might be money.

Right?

And the second one generally is time.

Those are the two top two on almost every dream.

Money and time.

Time and money.

Those are very real and.

And those are very common.

But what I encourage people to do is to say, all right, yes, it'd be great if we had bajillions in the bank.

And yes, it would be great if I have all the time in the world, but to be able to go, hey, what's some way that I could start at least in a small way today?

And one of the things is I.

My mom.

I mentioned my mom was an accountant, and she was a math elite.

It skipped my generation.

I'm not that great at math, but I do appreciate math when it maths and One of the maths that maths, especially when it comes to dreaming, is 15.

Because I know for me, I'm busy.

Almost everybody that I work with is a success coach.

Their schedules are full.

So to be able to say, hey, I want you to wait until you have a week to work on this dream.

It ain't, it's not gonna happen for most people.

Right?

But what I love about 15 minutes is I will often ask, hey, if I could give you 60 hours to work on this dream, would you take it?

And people are almost like, yeah, of course.

Say, okay, here's the math that maths 15 minutes a day, five days a week.

Not seven days a week, five days a week, 15 minutes a day, five days A week over the course of a year, that gets you 62 hours.

Doesn't feel like a lot in the moment, but it adds up.

And so what I always say is, hey, if you feel short on time, if you feel short on money, start small, start with a 15.

And so 15 minutes.

What's interesting is 15 minutes pops up everywhere.

We just have to look for it.

So it happens when we're waiting for our kid.

You know, when we're picking up our kid, we're waiting for the meeting to start, we're waiting for Netflix to Buffer.

15 Minutes pops up everywhere.

We just need to know what to do with that next 15.

So I always say, hey, if you, if you're a to do list person, which I am, total nerd.

Like, at the level that if I do something that's not on my to do list, I write it down just so I check it, check it off.

I literally did that this morning.

Yeah, but have a, have a 15 minute to do list, which is just, you know, when you think about that, that thing that you might want to experience, that thing you might want to do, that dream.

What are some things that you could do in 15 minute increments to move you towards that?

Maybe it's not, you know, read a full chapter in a book, but maybe it's reading three pages in a book that's relevant to your dream.

Or it's listening to 15 minutes of a TED Talk or a podcast.

Maybe it's 15 minutes, maybe it's not the full conversation, but at least taking 15 minutes to say, who are two people that are doing something like this and how could I reach out to one of them?

15 Minutes a day doesn't seem like a lot, but, but it does add up.

And we've seen people, you know, experiment with new things, learn to Do a new art form, learn a new sport, learn a new hobby.

But we've had even people, I mean, we have a program that teaches people how to build their own coaching and speaking business.

And we build it out so people do it 30 minutes a day.

That's it, 30 minutes a day.

And we've had people build their own six figure, seven figure businesses.

And that's how it starts.

So start small, don't wait for perfect.

Yeah.

Oh, so, so true.

Isn't that the enemy?

Waiting for perfect or trying to make it perfect?

Iterate and then put it out, whatever it is, like little bits.

I so agree with that.

Okay, so as we start wrapping up, Mitch, what would you just want to share to encourage the audience just, you know, in life and just the way we approach life?

Yeah, I love it.

Well, I do believe that God's put us here for a number of reasons.

I think people sometimes wrestle to say, what's the one reason?

What's my one purpose?

You know, why did God put me here?

And I think that that's an important thing.

But let it be a conversation starter with God because God is multifaceted.

And you know, there's always multiple reasons for almost everything that God's done, and that includes you.

And so I see people trying to have the wrestling match with what's my one purpose and what's my one dream?

I don't know about you, but I'm a recovering perfectionist and my brain breaks when I try to get to the one thing.

But just be able to say, hey, God, what's that next thing today?

What do you want me to see?

What do you want me to learn?

What do you want me to try today?

And let all of this be a conversation starter because it's amazing, you know, God, God can.

He's multifaceted and our lives can be multifaceted.

But to be able to say, what do you want me to be paying attention to today?

What can I be learning today?

Who can I see today?

These are powerful things that help us to start experiencing more of what God has for us.

And yes, you do have a purpose, but I think that purpose is multifaceted.

You do have a dream, but I think there's probably multiple dreams within that.

So to be able to say, like, what do you want me to see?

What do you want me to do in today?

The other thing, especially for your audience that I would speak to is I think sometimes it's tempting, especially for parents and especially for moms, to think that it's.

It might Be selfish to dream.

I know my mom was first to put everybody else's dreams before her dream, and I think so many moms are.

But it's really interesting, especially walking alongside people that have walked out big dreams and big goals for so long through coaching and through our big dream gathering events and through our various platforms.

What's really interesting is that we can tell our kids all day long to dream, but one of the best ways to actually inspire them to dream is to show them that you doing it.

I'll give you an example.

We've got somebody that's in our authority bridge program, which helps you to build coaching and speaking businesses on the side of what you do.

She was very successful college professor, had two kids she absolutely adores.

They're amazing.

But she had this dream of building her own business, and she wrestled with a full schedule and wanting to be fully present for her kids, and she wanted her kids to live their best lives.

But she also had this longing to have something of her own, to have a business, to have impact outside the campus that she was on.

And so we talked about this and she started the process of building her own business.

And one of the things she wrestled with is she's like, I don't really feel like I have a lot of spare time and I don't want to take a ton of time away from my kids.

But as we started to talk about what it could be like and what she wanted to create, I said, well, what if.

What if your kids had a front row seat to this?

What if you actually involved your kids not in slave labor, but like, what if your kids got to go, you know, to events and watch it play out to.

To help you create things?

And also, you know, what if your kids actually saw not just your successes, but what if they saw when things didn't always go great?

What would they learn about pursuing their own dreams if they had a front row seat for you pursuing yours?

And she has done that and done that in spades.

And she has.

Now she's still wildly successful on her campus as a professor and an administrator, but she has her own business that has been really successful in coaching and speaking.

But her favorite thing is that her kids are deeply involved.

When she has events, her kids are there running around like 9 and 10.

And they're running around, they're watching.

And that's one of the things they talk about at night is, hey, I tried this and it didn't go well.

It went down in flames or nobody showed up, or I tried this and I got a standing ovation, and these people signed up for this.

And what's been amazing is she said her kids now are dreaming in multiple areas because they understand it is a journey, it's a process.

And she's so grateful that she took that step.

Step.

Because, you know, again, I think she was very tempted to think it was selfish.

But I always say it's not selfish to dream.

It's selfish not to.

Especially for those that are around you 100%.

Yeah.

I mean, whether that has to.

With our faith.

And, you know, every time I hear a story, a testimony, I listen to a podcast, read a book, interview somebody, and they have this amazing story, my faith grows.

It's the same with us stepping into a goal or a dream and sharing with other people.

It gives someone else permission, but also courage to go and do it as well, whether it's our kids in our communities, people, you know, that are interacting with us.

So, yeah, absolutely.

It's so important.

So.

All right, as we wrap up, last question for you.

What is fueling you right now?

So any part of your life, it can be something fun, it can be something faith related.

But just what's.

Yeah, I love it.

It's funny, I was just having a conversation with a friend.

So our older son has been serving in the Middle East.

He was deployed in the Middle East.

He just got home, which I'm wildly grateful to say.

But this last year, he was overseas and in some pretty precarious situations.

And as an entrepreneur, you always have to learn how to handle risk and navigate things.

But this last year has been an interesting year because it was kind of one of the first times where our child was on the other side of the planet, and we had no ability to help them engage other than, you know, encouraging and talking every other week, those kinds of things.

And so it was a really interesting season.

That made me, in some ways, some of the ways that I found peace in the past had to change.

They had to go to deeper levels.

And so what's interesting about that is that also caused me to.

To reanalyze a number of things in the way that I live and.

And the ways that we run our business and things like that.

And I realized as I started to do that inventory, I realized some of the things that I was doing was just because they were what everybody else was doing.

And I realized, you know what?

I don't have to do all those things.

Right?

So it became a great conversation with God to say, hey, in this season, what should I be doing more of and what should I be doing less of?

And it's been a season of unplugging and saying no to more things than yes to things.

And it's been a really powerful exercise in getting and paring down to what's most important, because I realize, you know, hearing that of, you know, praying for our son, it took some emotional energy that, you know, it.

It.

It's one of those that I had less to spend in other areas, so I had to get really intentional with that.

And.

And it's been a really interesting process because what's.

What's.

I think, you know, the way that God works sometimes is the pruning and cutting back initially was painful.

You know, they, you know, Jesus always talks about, you know, that.

That, you know, he'll prune you, right?

And I don't know if you've ever pruned a branch or pruned a plant, but when you're using those clippers, you're like, yikes.

You know, that that's.

There's.

There's a.

There's a moment.

So some of that pruning felt like risk, and some of it was a little painful.

But what's wild is that on the other side of it, I've been feeling more peace.

And for your entrepreneurs, what's interesting is we're actually having our most profitable year year yet, but I'm doing less.

And now that our son's home, it's funny because I.

One of my good friends that's also an entrepreneur and knows that I've been pruning back a little bit, he asked like, okay, now that your son's home, are you going to put all that stuff back?

And it's like, oh, no, I'm.

I'm continuing to prune.

And so.

Right.

It's.

It's been a process that I'm really wildly grateful for.

And it's definitely.

I've had to remind myself, okay, God told Joshua to be bold and courageous.

I need to be bold and courageous, because God's with us wherever we go.

And that's.

That's what.

That's what I have to remind myself of daily.

But it's a beautiful thing that it's true.

Oh, well, so glad to hear that he's back safely.

That's.

That's amazing.

And I'm with you.

We haven't been doing much of it recently, and it was great for a season, but we kind of been holding onto it, and so it's time to let it go.

And it's actually the.

Just the mental wait that will be when I finish.

I still have some paperwork to do, but.

You're so right.

We do have to know sometimes when we need to pause or stop doing something.

And I love what Bob Goff says about that.

Right.

He says, I quit something every Thursday.

Now he's on more boards than I am and stuff, I guess.

Right.

So he has more to quit.

But still, I think that's so cool.

Maybe every quarter.

Right.

Or every month, but okay.

Yeah.

So.

All right, Mitch, can you share with us how can people connect with you, learn about authority bridge, your podcast and all?

Yeah, I love it.

So, you know, they can go to Mitch Matthews.com there's a lot of resources there.

You know, you find out more about the podcast.

But we did put a gift together for your crew.

We have a workshop that's really helped a lot of high achievers called Making time for your next chapter.

So it's helping people to kind of find that time to figure out what that next thing is.

And especially for those that are thinking about growing in their authority as a coach or a speaker or content creator, it's especially powerful for them.

It's a 97 workshop.

But if people go to MitchMatthews.com backslash time and they use the coupon code Kristen for you, they'll get it for free.

And so it will allow them.

It's a really powerful workshop that I think it'll allow you to find that.

That extra little bit of time and a little bit.

We give some other strategies too, to help you get started in that process of making the space to step into that next chapter with boldness.

So they can go to Mitch Matthews.com TIME and use the coupon code Kristen, because they're your friend and they get it for free.

Awesome.

Well, Mitch, thank you for taking the time to join us today for sharing the wisdom, the nuggets, your own stories, stories of people that you've worked with and helped.

And just thank you for just the work you do, for encouraging and for helping people be more successful, helping leaders step into more and helping all of us encouragers just to keep doing what we're doing in the world.

So thank you for joining me today.

It's been a blast and a true honor.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Before I wrap up today's episode, I wanted to share just a couple of the highlights that we talked about today and then a few quotes with you.

So the first thing is we have to make the time to think about what it is that we want.

What do we want to achieve?

What are the dreams that we have for our future, both those small ones and those bigger ones.

And I love what Bob Goff says.

He talks about what are our ambitions?

And maybe that's a better way to think about it than only as the word dreams.

As Mitch talked about, sometimes dreams can get us caught up.

But what about what are the ambitions you want to go after?

And I'm going to share in a minute a quote from Bob Goff's book Dream Big.

But the next thing that we talked about in today's episode is what is possible, right?

Like, what are the things that you would like to do or you'd like to step into?

And then also it's what can you learn?

What can you, what new experience can you have that moves you towards something you're curious about or a problem you want to help solve or something that you've just.

That's piqued your interest?

So go have those tiny experiments.

Go explore.

Go be creative and go be curious.

And then another thing is, is don't let your worry, your anxiety and your fear hold you back.

Switch the what if this doesn't work or it fails to.

What if it does?

Right?

Like, what would be the upside?

And then another thing that we talked about is what are you spending time noticing, right?

Because when we notice what's going on around us, when we notice things that are working, when we notice something that we might be able to do different, that is so important in all parts of our life, whether we're leading a business, whether we're leading our household, whether it's just for our own growth, it's.

That's so important.

The next thing is, are we creating a life?

Are we curating a life that matters to us and to others, right.

For today?

But are we also sending example to the people around us, our loved ones, our children, our friends, our family, that they can step into their dreams, they can step in their ambitions, they can step into and accomplish their goals.

Because when they see us do it, when they see us go through that journey, they get the courage to say yes to their own dreams and ambitions.

So it's so important.

Okay, so the first quote I want to share with you is by Bob Goff in his book Dream Big.

And he says, make no mistake, identifying and pursuing your ambitions is going to take a lot of courage and clarity.

It's also going to take more than a Little personal reflection.

Organizing your thoughts around these three questions will help you accomplish in the future what you haven't been able to make happen in the past.

Start with acknowledging that deeper longing within you.

If I had to take a guess, that's why you're here.

You can feel it.

I don't even have to define what it is.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

It is that something more to life rumbling around in your gut, that tug drawing you toward a scary, audacious dream.

It nags when you feel stuck at your job, a job you once wanted but have since outgrown.

It fuels the late night conversations before college graduation.

It hovers around coffee shops and kitchen tables when parents become empty nesters.

It is everywhere, boardrooms and bedrooms, subways and surf shops, galleys and galleries.

It is the passenger seat on a long road trip uttered through quiet prayers and found in pop song lyrics.

These are all expressions of us searching for a life that matters.

And then he just says, I believe this pursuit is a combination of finding answers to these three big questions.

Who are you?

Where are you?

And what do you want?

And I think, friends, what I would say is, isn't that what this is about?

How do we create and curate a life that we want?

And some of that is understanding what do we want more of in our life and what do we need to pause and stop in our lives and then what do we need to go after?

Whether that's a different career, whether that's more time with our children right before they they're out of the house.

It can be so many things and it isn't just one thing.

And yes, we will have different seasons.

We'll walk through hard things sometimes, we'll walk through laws.

We're going to walk through successes and exciting moments.

But all each season is going to bring with it potentially new dreams, new ambitions and new goals.

So it is something we want to revisit and come back to.

So the next thing that I want to share this is from the book Skip the Line by James Altucher.

And it's, it's a really interesting, fun book.

It was written some years ago, but he's basically talking about how we can iterate, try things sooner, quicker.

And there's this one chapter, it's called Exercise the Possibility Muscle in his book.

And so he's really talking about, in his own perspective, how do we keep experimenting like Mitch was talking about, how do we keep trying things, experimenting, just taking that micro step forward towards something we want to do in our life.

We're curious about or an idea we have.

So this is what James says only failure of omission is real failure, because if you don't do something you can't learn from your experience.

Every experience is a teacher filled with enough lessons to carry you to the next level of your education in any field.

Again, the habit of constantly experimenting in all facets of your life will bring you enormous success.

With each experiment you are either adding to your knowledge or you are succeeding in propelling forward in the hierarchy of that interest, passion or career.

He says.

But when I invest in myself, I make sure I diversify.

The easiest way to avoid that cortisol spike when it feels like you're getting kicked out of the tribe is to switch to another tribe or another hierarchy.

This is the benefit we have now as humans that no other animals or people at any other time in history have had.

When one thing is not going so well for me, I switch to the other interests I am passionate about.

There are many benefits to this.

Sometimes excelling in another pursuit will give you ideas for your initial pursuit.

Also, you might get the dopamine hit.

That gives you energy to go back to the passion you were not doing as well in.

And it clears your head so that you can rejuvenate, rest and begin your experiments again with new creativity, new ideas and fresh energy.

It's not always possible to be happy all the time, but it is possible to strive for contentment and well being as much as you can.

But I think that's just really speaks to the idea of experimenting, right?

Experimenting or having new experiences, trying new things, learning and having that posture right, what they call the growth mindset.

It sets us up for connecting the dots between ideas, for trying something without being fully invested in something or spending a lot of time or money on something.

We get to start learning right about ourselves, learning about if this idea or this hobby or this passion is something we want to learn or step into further.

And so I think that's a great idea and I just wanted to share that with you.

In the book Chase the Lion, Pastor Mark Batterson says, what do you need to start?

He says, if you're waiting for perfect conditions to pursue your dream, you'll be waiting till Christ returns.

It doesn't matter whether a sunny day or a snowy day is forecast.

At some point you need to throw caution to the wind.

Do it after you've done your due diligence.

But do it.

And then he says, a goal is a dream with a deadline.

No matter what dream God has given you.

You have to break it down into manageable steps.

You have to turn it into a to do list or it will never amount to more than a wish list.

Give yourself a timeline and a deadline.

That's what I did when I wrote my first self help published book a decade ago.

I vowed to myself that I wouldn't turn 35 without a book to show for it.

I gave myself 40 days to write it and I somehow pulled it off.

I hope today's episode has inspired you and encouraged you to be intentional about your life, to make time, to step into the things you want, the future you want to create, and to listen to what God is calling you into today and in your next season.

And if you haven't already, I would love it if you head over to my website and grab your first step to help you understand better what your passions are, what you're interested in, and what dreams do you want to actually write down or what ambitions.

If you head over to KristinFitch.com, you can go to my Workbooks page and grab my Reignite youe Passion Workbook.

It's a perfect place to start.

Or as Mitch mentioned, you can head over to his website and grab his free workshop.

And all of this is in the show notes.

So head over there now and make sure you connect with both of us and grab these free resources.

And as I like to say, everything changes when you say yes to the life you were created for.

If you enjoyed today's episode, if you could leave a rating review on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, it helps the show get discovered by more people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.