What is your success story? If you could do anything and you knew you could not fail… what would you do? Who would you be?
Would you be the CEO of a company?
Would you be a doctor?
Would you be a teacher?
Would you be a musician?
Would you be a sports star?
I love this question… if you could not fail, who would you be and what would you do?
It is really interesting to really think about this. Who would I really want to be?
Some people think it would be great to be a sports star… but would we really want the pain and commitment that goes with it?
How about the CEO position… the money is great, but would we want the 14 hour days and the stress of being the leader?
Consider the doctor… would we be willing to give up 9 or 10 years for medical school?
In my case, I really want to be a motivational speaker. It sounds like a great job. I picture myself as a Tom Peters, speaking and motivating an audience to go out and do great things. But when I really think about it… would I want the weekly travel and the schedule of meetings and engagements?
Those are the tough questions we really need to consider when developing a dream.
John Maxwell has five steps that can help clear away the clutter and help fine tune your dreams.
1. Believe in your ability to succeed. You must believe it before you can achieve it. This is where it is a good idea to dream really big. See yourself doing the job, paying the price and reaping the rewards. You really can do it!
2. Get rid of your pride. So many people shy away from a dream over the fear of failure. They don’t want to look bad or be embarrassed. Their personal comfort zone is more appealing than the end zone. The real truth on any great endeavor is that you will fail. Many times in fact. And the more you fail the more you will grow.
3. Cultivate constructive discontent. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo. Good enough never is. Complacency never brings success. You must desire to make things better and seek positive change. What great things can I do Today…
4. Escape from habit. Habits can cause you to go through the motions rather than think about the possibilities. Really look at your daily habits that you are doing now. Then mix things up. Look to the future and create habits that will take you towards your goal.
5. Balance creativity with character. As John says… “When it comes to their dreams, truly successful people have enough creativity to think it out and enough character to try it out. They have enough creativity to picture it in their minds and enough character to produce it with their hands.” If you dream and not follow up with action you might as well go back to bed.
What is your dream? Fill in the blank: Some day I will _____.
Someday begins today…
