3 Questions that Give Legs to Your Dreams
“I’m living the dream,” is sarcasm. The only dream you’re living includes stinky sweat and purposeful perseverance.
The only thing easy about big dreams is dreaming them.
3 myths about big dreams:
Myth #1: The universe conspires to make it happen. I don’t know what Ralph Waldo Emerson was smoking when he said, “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
The universe conspires to stay the same.
Myth #2: The path forward is easy. An easy dream insults your talent.
Myth #3: The path forward is is predictable. The path always has surprising turns. Sometimes you end up where you didn’t planned to go.
D-D-D-D-D-Dreams:
- Disruption: Dreams always cause confusion. It’s never a straight line to success.
- Difficulty: An easy dream isn’t a dream. It’s an illusion.
- Delay: Most big dreams take longer than expected.
- Disappointment: The path forward is littered with a thousand small defeats.
- Death: Dreams die and come to life again.
The deeper issue of dreams: Character
Success destroys the unprepared. The ‘D’s’ of disruption, difficult, delay, disappointment, and death shape you.
Who you become is more important than what you accomplish.
Action not imagination:
Make a list of everything you might do to achieve your dream. I’m not talking about spending time in your basement imagining and planning. I’m talking about things you can actually do – out in the world – to bring your dream to life.
The only decision that makes things happen is the one that gets your butt off the couch.
3 questions that give legs to your dreams:
- Who might you approach, recruit, or serve?
- What products might you create and deliver?
- What imperfect progress might you make this week?
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Warren Bennis
What connection does dreaming have with success?
What gives legs to dreams?
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Great post.. the road from Vision to Accomplishment/achievement is a very tough one, it’s character that moves obstacles to stepping stones. Most of it is hard, taking an action when you don’t feel like moving any longer is essential.. be it start-up vision, exercise for better health, or recovery from personal set back.
Thanks Ken. “Taking an action when you don’t feel like moving…” You nailed.
You might add, taking actions that make us feel uncomfortable. There’s a reason why it’s called the comfort zone. 🙂
Enjoyed reading this piece. Realistic. Very Realistic.
Thanks ZK. Maybe the dreamer in us needs a little taste of realism.
I want to ensure my business dreams remain alive, great insight and recommendations to keep the dream alive and moving in the right direction.
Thanks airborn. Best wishes for success!
“The universe conspires to stay the same.”
Never before has that been witnessed in nature.
While your insights on action are inspiring, and your drive to push people into quantitative results are admirable…
Keep in mind that there are those who are so impaired (in a motivational sense), that even the ability to aspire is drastically reduced. The Secret, RWE, and some of the more “new age” thoughts aren’t so much a literal translation as they are crafted to give people the initial push out the door. A push, we could comfortably presume, you had in spades.
There are those who would insist the universe conspires AGAINST them. There are those who would insist that probability, statistics, the organization of events are their enemy. Where you would dive into a chaotic mess and emerge with a handful of opportunity, others would see it as a gauntlet of misfortune.
The universe may not directly and instantly conspire to fulfill our wishes. That is demonstrably false. But there is far more research to suggest we impact probability than there is research to substantiate you claim of “The universe conspires to stay the same.”
Other than that, well done on inspiring action, and the continued search for opportunity!
Thanks oracles. I’m so glad you dropped in today. I should have included that the universe is not successful, but it conspires to stay the same. Patterns, seasons, orbits, migrations all speak to sameness. However it seems like there are also disruptive forces at work that change things.
“Sameness” in a physical sense, would be equilibrium in a closed system. The universe at large is far from any sort of equilibrium, and quantum mechanics is a stark reminder that probability plays a key role in the structure of reality.
Please feel free to examine a few of our links on the effects we have on probability. Remember to use sci-hub.cc to unlock any articles you want!
Thanks so much!
Dreams seem so far out there, so let’s make this immediate: in light of “Who you become is more important than what you accomplish” [which is a most helpful and true observation] – ask, who are you becoming TODAY? If today’s post at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics is correct – “We are who we spend time with” – then with whom are you spending time TODAY? That will be in the indicator of who you are becoming.
Love the 3 questions…. they help folks realize you don’t have to know it all, do it all, or make it happen perfectly the first time. Unrealistic beliefs often hold folks back from starting or sustaining goal/dream achievement. Dreams are just passing clouds until you act.
Dreams die and come to life again-so true, but I didn’t realize that until a long-ago dream resurfaced-and I am so glad to reclaim it.