A child’s mind roams freely. Imagination, creativity, and wild thoughts are just part of the experience of being young. It’s in these early years when some things capture our attention more than others. These things pique our interest, spark enthusiasm, and trigger something special within. It’s a time when ideas are formed, thoughts are provoked, and dreams are ignited.
After Rory McIlroy’s incredible win at this year’s Masters golf tournament, he said something in the post-victory interview that got me thinking. When asked about the support he got from his hometown crowd, he paused, got a little choked up, and said… “I was a little kid with a dream.” Like most great achievements and accomplishments, his started with a dream.
The human mind is special in that it can create images that are not real, can be very vivid, and contain whatever storyline we want. Those images act like templates, or drawings, that lay a foundation that allows us to go to work to begin turning those thoughts and images into reality.
Walt Disney may be the most well-known for turning thoughts and dreams into reality. He famously said that, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Visitors to his hospital room during his last days recalled detailed drawings posted on the ceiling above his hospital bed of a place he wanted to create…which later materialized as EPCOT. This theme park, visited by approximately 12 million people yearly, started as one man’s imagined idea… one man’s dream.
I think it’s safe to say that most people, including you, had dreams as a child. These dreams were exciting and got your blood pumping, and you believed they could come true.
For some of those kids with big dreams, they grew up to be astronauts, to invent that lifechanging device, or to travel the world, but for most, dreams fizzle out. Big ideas get laughed at, huge aspirations get ridiculed, and visions of incredible success get beat down.
Rory McIlroy said he was “a little kid with a dream,” but he also said that “some people probably thought it was outlandish to dream of the things I wanted to do.” Of course, they did. That’s what people do. That’s what society does. It sways you to avoid taking chances, to play it safe, and to be just like everyone else. So, what do most people do? They keep their dreams to themselves, they talk themselves out of going for it, and they end up with very average lives, getting very average outcomes.
The people who achieve their dreams, create things others couldn’t even imagine, and build lives that are extraordinary are the ones that ignored the naysayers, took the risk, and held on to their vision. Think about how many people told Steve Jobs he was crazy, rolled their eyes when Elon Musk said he was going to create an electric car (or send rockets into space), or discouraged Jeff Bezos from starting Amazon. Gandhi wrote a book, The India of My Dreams, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous speech was his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Big things start with dreams. So, what was your dream? Can you rekindle it? Maybe old dreams don’t excite you like they used to, so how about a new dream? What gets you excited? What is something that when you think about, it gets your heart racing, perks you up, and puts a smile on your face. And it’s not just big breakthroughs, the creation of new products, or building huge companies. How about doing meaningful work, building a body that’s fit and strong, or reigniting a marriage with the love and passion it once had. If you continue doing what everyone else is doing, thinking the way everyone else thinks, and accepting what everyone else accepts, you can still have a good life, but an extraordinary life starts with dreaming bigger. And once you have those bigger dreams, you must relentlessly pursue those dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said… “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” The quality of your future will be determined by the bigness of your dreams. Don’t let yourself, others, or the world stomp those out. Go chase your dreams!
