Put Your Dream To The Test (part 3)
Posted By Aaron Marcelli on February 3, 2010
What is it you really want to do? Or better yet, if you knew you could not fail, what would you do? I heard someone ask that question and then follow it up by saying, “you’re foolish to do anything other than what you just answered.” My initial reaction to those statements a few years ago may have been to call it some “pie in the sky” dreaming that ignored reality but I now realize it is dreams that cause us to strive for more. And to some extent, dreams must ignore reality because they are a vision for what is not yet real.
While reading the first few chapters of Put Your Dream To The Test, author John Maxwell’s words had me focusing in on not only my dream, but my thoughts toward my dream. And did I even have a dream. Rejecting the notion of dreaming and accusing others of living in fantasy land is exactly what causes most people to live lives of quiet desperation. On the inside the average man wants more but thinks it is either beyond his right or his ability to get, have, and do more than the average. In dreaming though it is not about the quantity of what we get, but the quality of what we want.
What do we want out of life?
How do we want to make a difference?
First we must recognize whether or not we have a dream. Then lay out what it is. Then evaluate it. Is it my dream? When did I begin wanting this? Did I inherit it from someone else? Am I getting paid to have this as my dream? If you say yes to the last two questions it’s probably not really YOUR dream. So figure that out. And if you determine it is yours, invest in it. Put some pressure on yourself. Throw some chips in on your dream so that you are invested in it and forced to be committed to it. This could mean buying an item to get yourself started or making your dream public so others will watch your progress.
With my dream, I found myself waiting for “the ok” to go. I’m not sure where I expected that permission to come from but was hit hard when I read that such permission can only come from myself. Here I was being the biggest hindrance to what I wanted.
Once we realize it is ok to go, we immediately begin changing. It’s not just reaching our goal, but the entire journey towards it that molds who we are and what we want. The journey turns us into better people. It’s not that only great people can follow their dreams, but ordinary people who follow their dreams often times do great things.
So what is your dream? Could you describe it to me? Is it what you really want? Are you laying it out clearly so others can understand it?
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