The place to start every, and any, life journey is with a dream.
Dreams are powerful. They are among those precious few intangibles that inspire men and women to get up, go to hell and back, and change the world. I’m not talking about the sort of fantasy dreams that can’t physically happen, I am talking about the sort of dream that will inspire you, the one you are prepared to sweat for, prepared to get up early for, train hard for, make sacrifices for, in order to make it become your reality.
This quote from T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia, who lived 1888-1935, a British army officer renowned for his part in the Arab Revolt 1916-18, and a prolific writer, upon whom the classic Oscar winning 1962 epic film was based) sums it up for me:
“All men (women) dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men (and women), for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
Ralph Fiennes, in A Dangerous Man. Lawrence after Arabia, says it powerfully:
Our job is to be the dangerous type. The one who dreams by day and acts to make those dreams come alive and actually happen. So take some time to get this right. Go for a long run. Think big. Think about what really makes you smile. Ask yourself what you would do if you didn’t need to earn any money. Ask yourself what really excites you. Ask what would inspire you to keep going long after most people would quit.
Find those answers and you are on the path to finding your dream. We all have our own personal Wembley or Wimbledon, and if we follow that calling, that’s when we really do have an adventure.
Now, obviously your dream needs to be realistic and achievable, so use your common sense and exercise good judgement – but don’t confuse realism with pessimism. Think big, and make sure it is physically possible and as long as the key ingredients to achieving it are vision and hard work, then go for it!
Write it down. Pin it on your wall – somewhere where you will see it every day. Words and pictures have power.
Go get it.
PS. Beware the people who look at your clearly articulated dreams and smirk. Those cynics are more dangerous than you might imagine. In life, we are never be short of people who want to knock our confidence or mock our ambitions.
There are lots of reasons why people may want to rain on your parade. Perhaps they are a little jealous that you might want more than they had hoped for, or they’re worried your success will make them feel inferior. Either way the result is the same; you will get dissuaded from achieving your dreams and fulfilling your potential.
They key is not to listen to them too hard. Hear them – out of respect – then smile and push on. Remember the key to success is embracing the very same things those cynics are warning you about – the failure, the heartache, the tears. All of those things will be key stepping stones on the road to success and are actually good solid markers that you are doing something right.
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