Massive Goals

The Big Picture - The Power of Dreams

Everyone starts out capable of dreaming.  Even small children have big dreams.  Though they may not seem like much to us, they dream of experiences way above what they are capable of.  They imagine themselves flying like a plane, or swimming with the fish.  They dream about reading their Dad`s books or driving their Mum’s car.  These dreams are massive for a child.

More often than not, the ability to entertain these dreams is knocked out of us somewhere in school.  Sure, we continue to day dream about all of the things that we would like to do, but we don`t actually picture the dreams as reality.  We become much too mature and practical to trust in dreams.  This, and the lack of tools to realise our dreams, means that most dreams are quickly abandoned.  They slip down behind a bookshelf somewhere until one day we dig them out and realise that they have turned into regrets.

How about we change things around.  What if, instead of losing our ability to dream as we get older, we set about improving our skills?  What if we we actively pursued dreaming?  What difference would it make?

Dreams are the start of progress.  Today`s reality tells us everything about how things are now, but it tells us very little about how things could be.  It is only when we can dream of what might be, that we are able to deliberately build a new future that is not possible yet.  The dream becomes as valuable as money in the bank or hours in the day because it is a tool that can drive us forward. 

The only thing that matters when you are dreaming is discovering what you think is a valuable use of your life.  What are you willing to exchange the rest of your life for?  At the end of your life, what will you be proud to say that you pursued with everything you had to offer?  This is the sort of dream that we are talking about.

The most powerful dreams come from within us.  If, when you are dreaming, you see an image of a fast car, an attractive partner and a winding road beside the sea, be suspicious.  This could well be a dream planted in you by marketers.  Effective dreams are your own.  A powerful dream is not necessarily going to impress or even be recognised by others.  It often won`t refer to possessions or money.  We may never fully share these dreams with an other person because they are a product of our individual desires and they come from within us. 

I will let you in on a little of my own private dream here, to give you a taste of the sort of thing that I am writing about.  Quite some time ago, I realised that I wasn’t cut out for a standard 9-5 job.  I just hate being chained to my work.  I love work, but I hate having to work on someone elses terms.  My dream became setting up my work life in a way that I was totally in control.  I dreamed of closing my construction business, saying goodbye to staff, clients and suppliers and forming a new way to work.  I dreamed of being able to create value for people without being chained to someone elses timetable and idea of quality.  This is the dream I am currently pursuing (a part of this is Life Goal Action) and it is a tremendously motivating dream.  It doesn’t appeal to you?  That doesn’t worry me in the least because it is my dream, for my life.

The most effective dreamers aren`t scared or ashamed to pursue their dreams.  They understand that nobody else will pursue their dreams without them, so they go for it.  They don`t have their heads in the clouds.  Although they have massive dreams they are well connected to reality and so they can combine the two to create a new reality.  They have developed ways to collect, and store their dreams.  They look beneath the dreams to see the underlying principles and see what really excites them.  Then they put their lives to work in achieving these underlying principles.  Their dreams focus their actions via their goal setting process.

You can do the same.  Forget your inhibitions for a while and set aside some time to simply dream.  Get comfortable, physically and emotionally and then look at your life.  What is your dream?  In other words, what do you think is a good exchange for your life?  When you have your dream, ask yourself “Is the dream telling the full story or is there an underlying principle that I need to look at?”.  Imagine your dream is to walk on the moon.  When you look a little deeper, you discover that you hate the idea of travelling long distances, so what is the underlying principle?  You discover that the thing that attracts you to the dream of walking on the moon is the idea that you are doing something totally, outrageously out of your comfort zone.  You discover that your true dream is to extend the boundaries of your life way beyond what you currently experience.  This is your true dream, the image of walking on the moon just carried the dream for you.

When you have a dream established in your mind, try it on for a while.  Walk around with your dream for a week or so and see how it fits.  Think about the consequences of realising your dream.  Ask “What would I be doing right now if my dream is realised?”.  Think about the positive and negative differences that your dream would make to your life.  Do the numbers still look good?  Are you more sure or less sure that you have found the right dream?  Now is the time to try again if you like, but sooner or later you have to settle down with a dream that you own and make it work.

The rest of Life Goal Action will help you from now on, as you strive to realise your dream.  The dreaming is the big part that makes your journey unique.  Achieving the dream is all about persistently using the best tools and creativity that you can muster to steadily approach your dream.

This is why I believe that goal setting without a dream will get you somewhere, but it is only when you start with a dream that you can really expect to end up where you want to be.

Have you found your own dream yet?  How did you find it?   

Thanks

Tom O’Leary