I often hear people telling me, with lots of passion and excitement, about something they want to do.

Lots of them dream about starting a business. One guy wanted to buy an old car and renovate it from scratch. A girl I know always dreamt of taking a world journey for a year, leaving everything behind.

Chances are you also have some dream. Chances are also very good that you've had this dream for a long time and did not make it happen yet.

Like most people I speak to, there are often very legitimate reasons why this dream is not a reality yet. You may not have the money. You may not have the time.

The risk is too high. You don't know where to start or how to get going. You may even have close friends and family telling you that you are crazy.

I have also heard how motivational speakers and books tell people to "Believe in yourself", "Just do it!", "Reach for the stars!" and many more inspiring phrases. The most popular one recently is to tell people to focus their thoughts on what they want and it will happen.

Although these inspiring approaches help many people to start doing something, the sad reality is that more often than not the result is only a short-term spurt of energy and action, or irresponsible decisions that lead to financial loss.

The biggest impact of this kind of emotional incitement is unfortunately even more devastating than financial loss or an abrupt end to an otherwise stable career. It is an impact that I see more and more when talking to people whom I start coaching.

One of my mentees, I'll call him Zayne for now, has attended many motivational seminars and read several self-help books. He is able to recite quotations from a variety of so-called self-mastery gurus.

As a result, he finally got to a point where he mustered up all his courage to resign from his fairly successful corporate job to start a small business.

Nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately, after about four months his new business was still not really off the ground and he was running out of the cash he had saved for this venture.

He had a family to feed. He started to doubt his entrepreneurial talent. Eventually he approached his previous employer and was "lucky" to be re-employed in a similar job.

All turned out okay, right? Actually not. Although Zayne got his job back and was able to feed his family again, he fell into depression. He started believing he was a failure. He was miserable and demotivated. That is the real impact of misguided motivational slogans.

The alternative is not to just keep on doing what you are doing. Neither is it to stop pursuing your dreams.

Unless you have lots of cash and very little risk, I propose the "Big Goals, Small Steps" approach. I adopted this approach for my own life and have taught this to various people around me - and it works.

Start by defining your dream in as much detail as you can. Carefully consider the implications of pursuing that dream on your life and on the loved ones around you.

If you are very sure that's what you want, start by defining small steps you need to take to make it work. Now, don't just quit your day job yet.

Challenge yourself to do one manageable thing each week. It could be as simple as making a phone call or spending 30 minutes on the internet researching what you want to do.

It could be an appointment with a bank manager or discussing your ideas with a trusted friend.

The important part is to be disciplined about taking one small step per week.

The result I have seen in my own life and several times now in the lives of people I shared this with. Before you know it, your dream is right in front of you.

You will either be living it already or you will be absolutely ready to make that final decision. The difference now is that the final step is actually a very small step and not a huge risk any more. You are ready for it.

Zayne is now ready for it and I have no doubt that he will make a huge success of his new venture.

Will Maritz is an entrepreneur and life coach at En Route Living.

A new programme called "The Excellence Challenge" is being launched this month.

For more information, phone Ayesha Paruk at 011 782 1380 or e-mail ayesha@enrouteliving.com.