Are You Afraid to Dream?

Love to Dream, Hate to Dream

This is an age where people are afraid to dream.

You don’t believe me.
We have too many cable channels to count.
We have movies with incredible special effects, computer games that grow more elaborate all the time, and multiplayer games and virtual worlds on the internet.

And we have an unending supply of novels that are released, month after month, most in print, but some as e-books.

With all of this, our heads are full of dreams.

In fact, many people would rather watch television, go on the internet, or play a computer game, than exercise, play sports, or go out and spend time with people.
There’s no question, that sometimes, we love to dream, and need to dream, like we need air, water, food, and love.

We’re not afraid to dream someone else’s dreams.
And usually, we’re not afraid of the dreams we have in bed, when asleep.
Those dreams seem comfortably distant, so they don’t scare us.
They don’t demand anything of us.

But, what if we started to dream our own dreams?
You and I might change beyond all recognition.
And we imagine that our familiar, somewhat predictable world would crumble.
And how could we ever be safe, then?

Maybe you do let yourself dream about other ways of being, and having, and doing, but do you let yourself dream big dreams?

Or do you dream of small changes that wouldn’t matter much to you or anyone else?

As children we dream big dreams.
And then we find obstacles in the way.
We get tired. We get discouraged. We get hurt.
And we’re told that our dreams are unrealistic.
Or that we’re not worthy, fit, or able to reach such a dream.

What would this world be like if your family, friends, and society encouraged you to dream great dreams?
What would this world be like if they dared you to dream dreams that no one had ever dreamed before.

When I hear these words, my heart beats faster.
I see high mountains, and wide oceans, and other images of vast possibility.
And still, those natural wonders pale before the great things that we would all accomplish together in such an extraordinary world.

What would you or I be like in such a world?

Never Too Late
“It’s never too late to be the person you could have been.” (George Elliot)

In Do You Hate Selling, I speak of five powerful ways that can be used or abused to influence people.

The first way is to encourage other people’s dreams.

If we’re interested in personal development, and we want to unlock all the greatness that’s hidden inside of us, we have to get smart about the ways that we influence ourselves.

It may sound a little weird to talk about influencing yourself, sort of like strange people who refer to themselves by name, instead of saying “I”.

But there are conflicting parts of us with different interests, and you’ve got to find a way to motivate yourself to develop new habits of thought and feeling, in order to become a different person.

I’ve got to get in the habit of encouraging my dreams. I’ve got to encourage myself to dream big, and take action on those dreams to bring them to life.

Sure, it would be a big help if other people would encourage my dreams, and I hope you find friends who care about your dreams.

But at the beginning, you need to be the one to encourage your own dreams, and one of the best ways to build a new mental habit is to practice it on others.

If you want to encourage your dreams, encourage the dreams of those around you.

Do you encourage the dreams of your family, friends, and co-workers?
Do you even know what their dreams are?

If you want to have really powerful relationships with people, get to know their dreams, and care about their dreams.

And before long, you’ll believe that your own big dreams will come true.
And your friends will be telling you the same thing.