A Dreamer's World

I attended a seminar lately and began asking a number of young youths present, what their dreams and future aspirations were. I got overwhelming responses. A great number said they wanted to become successful, wealthy, start their own businesses and some wished they could possibly travel round the world. Wow, awesome! Then came the second question. “What actions are you putting in place to ensure these dreams come to fruition? I honestly, was totally amazed by the responses I got.  A lot had no clue on how to accomplish these goals, apart from a few who stated the regular philosophy we hear all the time, WORK HARD! So, how do you intend to work hard my dears? Hmm! This aunty you ask a lot of questions, some grumbled.

Obviously, we all aspire to become somebody great. Yours may be to become a lawyer, doctor, engineer, singer, or a professional in any field of your choosing. The trick here lies in the strategies you set out, to ensure these goals are being actualized. I think a lot of us are just mere dreamers, living in a world of illusion and fantasy. We have bold and highly speculative ideas without properly implementing them. While we are busy dreaming, guess what? The really happy and successful people, the really fulfilled and powerful people out there, are the ones who are busy doing. 

We convince ourselves that these dreams are possible, motivating ourselves to go and pursue after them, but in the real sense, dreaming does nothing other than allow you engage in the possibilities of the future. Dreams are tangible objects that exist outside our minds, they are only thoughts. Dreaming does nothing. 

The only thing that produces results is “DOING”. Doing is an action word, a continuous word; it’s the performance or execution of an act. No matter how much you dream or aspire to be somebody great, you go nowhere without doing. Dreaming and doing must work hand-in-hand. Without one, there is no true use for the other. By so doing, you begin see the reality and cruelty of life, the bitter-sweet taste of life and because a lot of us hate reality, we just end up being mere dreamers. Doing doesn't just come as easy as a dream does, we do not have to sit and wait until things unfold, we have to put our best foot forward to make things happen the way we want them to. 

At a younger age, when asked to write about myself, my favorite closing line was... 

“I’d love to be a source of inspiration and role model to youths and young adults on how to succeed in life, if only they believe”. 

This routine continued for closely 5 years, until I had to tell myself the truth. Now, my conscience speaks... Ada, do you realize how long you've sat on your dreams? Every year, you want to be an inspiration, what have you done to inspire others? I dreamt of writing books. I knew I was going to be an author of bestselling books but “how” was the challenge. I felt I had to attain a certain age, maybe 40 or 50, before I could begin. That was how poor my reasoning was. I had no sense of ownership. There was always an excuse to tell my inner self  in order to feel less guilty of my shortcomings. I knew I had something in me but I felt too unprepared to face the test. I always told myself “Urgh! What will people say about my write-ups? There are better writers out there of course. Who will sacrifice their precious time to read whatever crap I’ll have to publish? As a kid, I admired other kids who were poets and good writers. I always thought they had a special kind of smartness I didn’t have, especially if they were the type that wore the Harry Potter's  kind of goggles. I envied the acknowledgements and applauds they always received from people. I wanted that too for myself but I was still living in a dreamer’s world.

“If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs”

 - Dhirubhai Ambani.

Each time I come across this statement, I get cold shivers down my spine ‘cos I know what it means to miss out on an opportunity. One thing that kept me from actualizing my dream as at when i wanted, was fear of the unknown and this led to procrastination. How did i overcome this, you may ask? By simply saying 'NO' to procrastination. I conducted a self assessment which enabled me set my priorities right. I began setting specific targets for myself and ensured i never exceeded my deadlines. I began making phone calls to rightly position myself where i needed to be. I was done being a dreamer. It was time to be the doer. I wanted to create my own identity and eventually, i began writing. That was one of the gifts i believe i had, so why don't I maximize that potential? People appreciated my work and that gave me the zeal to do even more and further improve on my writing skills. 

Message:

Do what others won't do because they are afraid of failing, afraid of looking silly or afraid of being rejected. In fact, you have to fail, look silly and be rejected in order to be successful. Stop sitting on the fence all day wondering what if. Start putting your thoughts into action. Everyday should be a result of a planned strategy. 

Ask yourself.. "Am i a mere dreamer or a doer?" Whatever your answer is, work diligently to ensure it yields great results. 

I'll see you in my next post

Lots of love,

~Ada~