Hold Onto Your Dreams
I was driving back to my office from lunch the other day, and passed an elementary school. The students must have been outside for recess, because the schoolyard was filled with kids. Some were chasing each other around the playground, while others played basketball. Many were smiling, and a few were laughing hysterically.
I smiled as I thought about how much fun they were having, and how wonderful it was to enjoy a beautiful, sunny day – especially after the long, cold winter in Michigan.
As an adult, I have a great appreciation for the innocence of children. While the world is certainly different today than it was when I was growing up, and children are probably exposed to more at a younger age than I was, kids still possess a beautiful innocence about the world.
As you probably know, I’m an advocate for big dreams. I believe life is not a dress rehearsal. We only have a short time on earth, and we all have the opportunity – if not the responsibility – to play “full out”, and accomplish all we can. To dream big dreams, and to do all we can to make them come true.
Kids don’t yet comprehend the “short time on earth” part of life, but they definitely don’t have a challenge dreaming big. For children, no dream seems too big. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, kids say things like “I want to be a model,”or “I want to be a pilot,” or “I’m going to be a ballerina!” For children, the possibilities are endless.
And yet, sometime between childhood and becoming an adult, perspective changes. If we’re taught about goal setting at all, we learn about SMART goals. The “R” in SMART stands for “realistic.” Teenagers are often encouraged to reset their expectations, and to focus on career and life aspirations that are more practical, and achievable.
Thankfully, the dreamers of the world hold onto their dreams. They refuse to be constrained by the “way of the world”, the narrative that causes so many people to give up on their vision of a future that stretches them beyond the limits of possibility.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some pretty amazing people as part of my podcast, “LifeExcellence with Brian Bartes.” My guests have all achieved excellence in their chosen professions. In many cases, they were the “dreamers” who refused to give up on their dreams, and made their vocational aspirations a reality.
Kathy Ireland became the most successful supermodel in the world. Nicole Mann became a U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, and is now a NASA astronaut. Sophie Silnicki is a ballerina, and a Radio City Rockette.
These are examples of vocational dreams, but the same logic can be applied to all areas of life. David McClelland, a Harvard psychologist who has studied high achievers, concluded that successful people have one thing in common: they are constantly dreaming about how to achieve their goals.
I encourage you to dream big, to play a bigger game, and to recognize that the possibilities are so much bigger than most people realize.
What is your big dream… and what will you do, starting today, to make it come true?
