The 50 Dreams Challenge: A Decade-Long Journey of Goal Setting and Achievement

en years ago, I wrote down 50 dreams - some seemingly beyond reach. Among them: acquiring my dream home, studying abroad, becoming Taiwan's leading presentation skills expert, earning feature stories in major business publications, and completing a Ph.D. Recently, while teaching my children about goal setting, I rediscovered that Post-it note from late 2015 still attached to my bookshelf. What I found astonished me - I had accomplished 38 of those seemingly impossible dreams, some even exceeding my initial vision.

Join me as we explore this decade-long journey of transformation.

Why Review a Decade of Dreams?

In my work teaching goal-setting strategies, people often ask, "Does writing down dreams guarantee success?" My response is straightforward: "While writing them down doesn't ensure achievement, not writing them means you don't even know what you're aiming for."

The "50 Dreams" community I founded has produced remarkable stories:

"Even achieving one dream creates momentum for the next." 

"My family initially dismissed these goals. Two years later, when I achieved one, their skepticism turned to support." 

"I discovered I'd quietly accomplished several goals while focused on the journey."

Naturally, you might wonder about my own track record with the 50 Dreams approach. After all, true credibility comes not from what we say, but from what we achieve. Today, I'll transparently review each goal I set in 2015, analyzing what worked, what didn't, and the lessons learned along the way.

A Snapshot of 2015

Before diving into the achievements, let's establish context. In 2015, I was:

• A newly published author with my first business book, "The Art of Public Speaking"
• Launching my "Professional Presentation Skills" program
• Co-founding an education startup
• On hiatus from doctoral studies
• Father to two young daughters (under 4 and 2)
• Living in a modest apartment
• Building my corporate training practice

Following an annual tradition, on December 31, 2015, I documented 50 dreams spanning health, family, career, travel, and lifestyle. Think of it as crafting a comprehensive life map rather than a simple to-do list.

Foundation First: Health and Family Dreams

The cornerstone of any life plan must be personal well-being and family harmony. My top five dreams reflected this priority:

• Maintaining robust physical health
• Nurturing my children's happiness and development
• Supporting my wife's health and fulfillment
• Ensuring extended family well-being
• Developing better emotional regulation

Of these foundational goals, I achieved four. The fifth - emotional regulation - remains a work in progress. While I maintain composure 90% of the time, I continue working on those challenging moments. This ongoing journey reminds us that some of our most important goals require continuous attention rather than one-time achievement.

Professional Aspirations: Building a Legacy

After establishing personal foundations, I set ambitious professional goals:

• Elevating our education startup to industry leadership
• Establishing market dominance in presentation training
• Completing my doctoral proposal
• Achieving specific passive income targets
• Maintaining 10%+ annual investment returns

These weren't just career objectives; they were stepping stones toward creating lasting impact. Professional Presentation Skills did become the market benchmark in Taiwan - a Google search for "presentation training expertise" consistently confirms this leadership position. The doctoral proposal, completed in 2020 just before the pandemic, took nearly five years - a testament to the principle that significant achievements often require more time than we initially imagine.

However, business evolution taught me valuable lessons about adaptability. Our education startup eventually took a different direction as both my partner and I discovered new opportunities for impact. While some financial goals were met, others, like the investment returns target, proved more challenging. These experiences reinforced a crucial truth: success often looks different from our initial vision.

Beyond Borders: Travel and Personal Growth

My travel-related dreams reflected a desire for both adventure and cultural enrichment:

• Family expedition to Wang-An (a pristine island in Taiwan's Penghu archipelago)
• Tropical island retreat
• European family adventure
• Tibet exploration
• Maldives discovery
• Cycling Taiwan's perimeter
• Ascending Yushan (Taiwan's highest peak at 12,966 feet)

Achievement here was mixed - Wang-An in 2018, Europe in 2023, and two enriching trips to Bali. Other dreams, like Tibet and the Maldives, remain future aspirations. The Taiwan cycling tour and Yushan climb particularly interest American readers who often seek similar challenging outdoor adventures.

The "Impossible" Dreams: Breaking Through Barriers

Some dreams seemed so ambitious in 2015 that writing them down felt almost presumptuous:

• Acquiring a 3,300+ square foot home with panoramic views
• Publishing a personal development book (targeting my fourth publication)
• Pursuing international language studies
• Building a sustainable digital enterprise
• Securing major business media coverage

A decade later, these "impossibilities" have largely become reality. The dream home not only materialized but evolved through three years of thoughtful renovation into our family sanctuary. My publishing journey exceeded expectations - beyond "The Art of Work and Life," I've authored four additional books, bringing the total to eight. Recently completing IU's Intensive English Program fulfilled the language study goal, while F Academy transformed the digital business dream into reality.

While a magazine cover remains elusive, features in Asia's leading business publications like Business Weekly (Asia's equivalent to Forbes) and CommonWealth Magazine (comparable to Harvard Business Review in the region) have provided significant professional visibility.

The Ph.D. Journey: The Ultimate Test of Persistence

Among all 50 dreams, earning a doctorate proved most challenging - imagine combining Navy SEAL training with academic rigor. My advisor's exacting standards pushed me far beyond my perceived limits. During particularly intense periods of dissertation writing, I actually wrote another book, "The Art of Teaching," as a form of productive procrastination - writing business books had become my comfort zone compared to academic research!

This journey revolutionized my approach to:

• Time management: Learning to balance family, business, and academic demands
• Professional development: Developing rigorous analytical and research skills
• Project planning: Breaking seemingly impossible tasks into manageable steps

The academic achievement extended beyond the degree itself. My research paper "The Key Elements of Gamification in Corporate Training - The Delphi Method" not only won Paper of the Year but achieved "Highly Cited Paper" status, demonstrating the practical value of bridging academic research with business applications.

Three Essential Keys to Dream Realization

After a decade of pursuing these goals, three fundamental principles emerge:

1. Strategic Focus

The purpose of writing 50 dreams isn't to achieve them all simultaneously - that would be overwhelming. Instead, this extensive list serves as your life's master plan, from which you select 3-5 priority goals annually. My decade illustrates this approach:

• 2020-2022: Doctoral completion
• 2023: F Academy foundation building
• 2024: International market expansion

This method allows for both ambitious vision and practical execution.

2. Intentional Time Architecture

"I don't have time" often masks "I haven't made this a priority." In 2015, I faced the same time constraints many professionals do - running a business, raising young children, and pursuing advanced education. The breakthrough came when I shifted from finding time to creating it.

My strategic approach included:

• Early Rising Revolution: Establishing a 5 AM routine to secure two hours of focused work before the day's demands begin
• Pomodoro Technique Implementation: Using 25-minute focused sessions to maintain high productivity
• Peak Performance Scheduling: Aligning crucial tasks with my natural energy peaks

This isn't about working more hours; it's about working more strategically. Time management isn't about finding extra hours - it's about engineering your schedule to align with your priorities.

3. The Power of Persistent Progress

Perhaps the most crucial insight is understanding that significant achievements rarely follow our desired timeline. Consider these examples from my journey:

• F Academy succeeded on its third iteration, nine years after conception
• The doctoral journey spanned seven years post-goal-setting
• International education dreams took nine years to materialize
• Several dreams remain works in progress

The key insight? Success isn't about speed - it's about sustained movement toward your goals. This decade taught me that:

• Written dreams serve as persistent compass points
• Each setback provides crucial learning opportunities
• Progress compounds over time, often invisibly until breakthrough moment

Your 50 Dreams Journey

For those hesitating to begin their own 50 Dreams journey:

• Don't let perfectionism prevent starting - your dreams will evolve
• Embrace the possibility of revision - annual updates are part of the process
• Focus on direction over destination - the journey shapes you

This isn't about my 80% completion rate. It's about demonstrating that a technical college graduate with modest beginnings can systematically transform dreams into reality through persistent effort and strategic planning.

The Path Forward

As I write this from my early morning session in America, I'm already working on my next major dream: expanding these principles to a global audience through international editions of my books and online courses. My LinkedIn network (link provided) has become a vibrant community for sharing these ideas across cultures.

Remember: "A year's progress often disappoints, while a decade's transformation astonishes." "Today's dreams become tomorrow's milestones."

Start your journey today. Whether you achieve all 50 dreams isn't the point - the transformation that occurs while pursuing them is what truly matters.

50 Dreams Checklist (2015-2024)

*Audit Date: December 18, 2024*

Progress Overview

✓ Completed: 34 dreams

△ In Progress: 4 dreams

✗ Not Yet Achieved: 12 dreams

Note: This audit comes at the 9-year mark, with one year remaining in the original timeline.

1. ✓ Maintain optimal health

2. ✓ Ensure children's well-being and happiness

3. ✓ Support wife's health and fulfillment

4. ✓ Maintain extended family wellness

5. ✗ Master emotional regulation

6. ✓ Achieve professional brand recognition

7. ✓ Lead presentation training market

8. ✓ Complete doctoral proposal

9. ✓ Reach passive income target

10. ✗ Maintain 10%+ investment returns

11. ✓ Publish in indexed academic journal

12. ✗ Host outdoor celebration event

13. ✓ Deliver impactful charitable presentations

14. ✓ Experience tropical island living (Bali x2)

15. ✓ Create memorable luxury experiences

16. ✓ Complete mindfulness retreat

17. ✗ Japan journey with mother

18. ✓ Family exploration of Wang-An

19. ✓ Nurture key professional relationships

20. ✓ Gain major media recognition

21. ✓ Support academic mentorship

22. ✓ Establish daily gratitude practice

23. ✓ Complete doctoral degree

24. ✓ Acquire professional music equipment

25. ✓ Upgrade family vehicle

26. ✓ Experience European culture

27. ✗ Explore Tibetan highlands

28. ✗ Discover Maldives beauty

29. ✗ Complete Taiwan cycling challenge

30. ✗ Summit Yushan peak

31. ✓ Secure dream family residence

32. △ Build substantial liquid assets

33. △ Exceed income objectives

34. ✗ Acquire East Taiwan property

35. ✓ Launch successful digital platform

36. ✓ Enable extended family travel

37. ✓ Experience Lanyu culture

38. ✗ Himalayan cycling adventure

39. ✓ Create family travel memories

40. ✓ Complete international studies

41. ✓ Support children's talent development

42. ✓ Maximize positive social impact

43. ✓ Expand community support

44. ✓ Build professional reputation

45. △ Achieve work flexibility

46. ✗ Reach book sales milestone

47. △ Maintain health metrics

48. ✓ Launch secondary enterprise

49. ✓ Establish market leadership

50. ✓ Expand publishing impact

This checklist serves as both a record of achievement and a roadmap for future growth. It demonstrates that while not every dream may be realized exactly as envisioned, the pursuit itself creates extraordinary value and unexpected opportunities.

The journey continues, and this list will evolve as new dreams emerge and current ones transform. As we close this decade of dreams and look toward the future, remember that each checkmark represents not just an achievement, but a story of persistence, adaptation, and growth.

Join us in this journey of transforming dreams into reality, one goal at a time.