A daydream is not just a drifting away from what you’re doing. Something is calling to you. Something wants your attention, and it’s there for a reason. So follow it. See what the wandering is about.

Jerome L. Singer, the Yale psychologist who spent decades studying the wandering mind, understood this. He called it “positive constructive daydreaming,” the kind that helps us plan, create, and imagine what we wish for. A daydream is not wasted time. It can be the first draft of your future.

I used to daydream about becoming a professional actor in New York City. I didn’t just imagine it. I did everything I could to get there. I studied. I practiced. I auditioned. I got into plays. Seven months after moving to New York, it happened. I got my Equity card and performed in a Broadway touring company. My daydream came true.

But dreaming alone didn’t get me there. NYU psychologist Gabriele Oettingen has found that people who only fantasize about a goal often put in less effort, as if the pleasant picture satisfies them before they’ve done anything. Yet she doesn’t dismiss daydreams. They point to what we need. The people who succeed pair the dream with an honest look at what stands in the way and a plan to get past it. Her method is called WOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan.

Focus on your daydream, and ask yourself four questions:

1. What is it about? Look beneath the surface. A daydream about a cottage by the sea may really be about peace, or space to create.

2. How achievable is it? Be honest. Not everything is practical, but we can do more than we usually allow ourselves to believe.

3. What stands in the way? Name it: fear, doubt, old habits. An obstacle you can see is one you can plan for.

4. What work will make it happen? Name the first step, then the next. Study. Practice. Show up and be creative.

Often our daydreams are about the life we want and the work we hope to do. They are messages from the part of us that knows what matters. They are not pie in the sky.

Henry David Thoreau knew this in 1854. In Walden he wrote:

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

In the same passage he added:

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Your daydream is the castle. Your effort is the foundation. Start building. Don’t keep your daydream waiting.

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

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This also matters – Dreams – The Biggest Adventure of Your Life.

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