January 30, 2020
On The Essentials, our radio show, on the day the legendary Kobe Bryant lost his life in an accident, we interviewed Andretti Bain. He shared his story noting that from the age of five all he dreamt about was becoming a professional athlete. Over the years, through many trials and challenges, he nurtured that dream, working hard, never conceding to defeat and failures. Dreams fuel our success journey. Dreams are the images of our future self and our future state. Dreams are as important to success and as breathing is to life. It is fair to conclude that a person without a dream is simply a walking dead, aimless, with little to no ability to add to the value fabric of humanity. No surprise therefore that with his monomaniacal hold on a dream, so early in life; Bain guides his journey with the motto “Dream big. Work Hard. Have Faith”.
I wholeheartedly agree. To achieve great things in life we must master the art of dreaming big, dreaming in unencumbered fashion and coping with the discomforts that such dreams will impose on our daily existence. To change the trajectory of our lives we must find ways to hold on to positive visions, despite debilitating circumstances which pushes us towards the negative. The real estate between dreaming and achieving demands commitment, discipline and persistence. It demands a mature and developed mindset and a level of awareness that will help you to stay true to your goals and desire. While you cannot simply dream yourself into a brand new state, you must use your dreams to fuel your actions on your journey to success!
Dreams help fuel the journey but the process is not always comfortable. In every human heart, there is a vision, a set of vivid mental pictures, closely held and deeply emotionalize. A set of thoughts, ideas and plans which are consistently seeking expression, trying to find ways of manifesting, to bring value and fulfilment. For some this internal process is a state of blissfulness. They are able to show tangible evidence of progress and achievements. They are generally happy with where they are in life. For others it is a “living nightmare”, one’s own hell on earth, as life looks nothing like they desire. How you chose to nurture and manage your dreams, the level of awareness and effort you apply, is fundamental to which of these scenario you will experience. Despite the pace, regardless of the level of success it is imperative that we each hold firmly on to our dreams, maintain a positive mindset and commit to work hard in making them come true.
Holding a dream or vision of our true potential or our deepest desires is not always easy but necessary. Our dreams are always influenced by our belief system. Where the belief system is negative (seeing ourselves as being incapable) it imposes limitations on our thinking, creates fears and consequently renders our visions ill-defined, turning positive and uplifting thoughts into emotional generating states of anxiety, pain and hurt. The good news is this struggle gets easier as we succeed and grow. The more instances of success we secure the easier it becomes to hold on to a dream and to dream bigger. The truth is that the external result of the outcome is not the main reason for the change, it being easier, but in the positive reinforcing influence the achievement has on our beliefs. This is why we must quickly appreciate that dreaming is the fuel but action is the vehicle, the only vehicle to our success destination. Dream big but execute with commitment, resilience, and persistence. The process itself of dreaming and succeeding can become a virtuous cycle where our dreams pushes us into action securing positive results which in turn convinces us of our innate potential to do great things. Or our lack of action, insufficient action, terminates into suboptimal results which violently plays on our minds reminding us that all the negatives we explored before embarking on the adventure, I can’t, I am not smart enough, who am I to dare, etc., were true. A vicious cycle that limits our dreams and retard our potential for success.
On our path, chasing our own worthy ideals, we often become concerned as we observe others moving effortlessly from achievement to achievement. We may become uncomfortable with where we are, question our dreams and in the process suffer emotionally. If you are uncomfortable with your current state vis-à-vis the dream you nurture in your heart, do not despair. Step back and take stock of where you are in your own journey; understand what you have done up to this point. Realise that that others are in a different season, they may have already put in the work and is now reaping the payoffs. This discomfort is an asset. When we up our awareness and lift the level of our thinking, we see the world through different lenses. Your lack of achievement is simply a signal that you are either not acting or not being effective in your actions. In this state, it is important to reassess yourself, take a hold of those deeply held desires, get hungry for the life you crave and stay hungry. Achievements are a powerful way to help create clarity and give definition to unclear dreams, redefine fantasies by pulling them into the realm of “the probable”, then eventually within the reaches of “what is possible”. It is important to remind ourselves, consistently, that achievements are the result of focused action. You should dream, that is what will get you started and fuel your progress, however, the only way to get there, wherever there is for you, is to work. Dream, dream big with reckless abandon, then go to work and make your dreams come true.
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Hubert Edwards is a Management Consultant and Chartered Accountant; holds a MBA with distinction and a LLB with First Class Honours; a John Maxwell Team Certified Speaker, Coach and Trainer and the Founder of HubertEdwardsGlobal, a coaching and mentoring organization and host of The Essentials radio show