Dreams, Illusions & Misinformation
Ideas are dreams.
The reasons you’re not trying to bring your ideas to reality are illusions.
And the justification you use to back up your reasons (excuses) are founded on misinformation that our culture and our media sold us as truths.
All of these are taking place in the same spot, your mind.
Your mind creates the ideas. Your mind believes the misinformation. And your mind uses that information to create the illusions that prevent you from taking action.
You were misinformed when society taught you that only big ideas can succeed. You were misinformed when the media glorified the winners, the perfect products and the genius innovations. You were informed that ideas like the iPhone, Netflix, Tesla Motors, Twitter, Facebook, GoDaddy, Jimmy John’s, Gucci, Beats Headphones, Uber and Kickstarter were the only types of ideas that were good enough to have. That only these types of ideas are worth pursuing. That only these types of ideas can succeed.
You were misinformed.
You were informed that people like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, only people from Harvard, only people with MBA’s, only people with high IQ’s and only people in New York and California were the only types of people that could have good ideas. That only these types of people are capable of generating valuable and profitable ideas. That only these types of people can success in entrepreneurship.
You were misinformed.
You were informed that big ideas need big money. You were shown headline after headline of startups raising millions of dollars. You were informed that this was necessary to achieve success.
You were misinformed.
You were informed that Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college to found Facebook. You then connected this with the few similar tales like that of Bill Gates, who also dropped out of college to start his company. You then came to the conclusion that these people were not like you. That they were above you. That you would have known already if you were a genius like them. You believed this lie when you told it to yourself.
You were misinformed.
The media and our culture both love the hits. They love the winners. They love the sparkle and flash of success so they decorate them and worship them. By doing so they inform us that these winners are different than us, that they are better than us.
The media and our culture create a false separation between us and successful people/ideas.
A small startup from a regular Midwest girl, who did finish college and “only” has a bachelor’s degree doesn’t make a good news story.
That girl doesn’t get talked about, that girl doesn’t get noticed. So we never get to hear the stories of success that would be most beneficial to us. We never get to read about everybody else who is turning their own ideas into successful businesses because they’re buried under stacks of headlines about Google’s next web app and Apple’s new widget.
The catch-22 is that if that small Midwestern girl got talked about in the media, she would be painted in the same glorious light that the big winners are, which would once again make us believe that she is different than us. That we can’t succeed because we aren’t like her.
The media created separation again.
Then we say “We’re no longer within reach of this girl. She’s one of them. I guess we just didn’t realize it until now. She must have always been one of them. She was never one of us regular people. She’s part of that genius, elite, winners group. I’m not part of that group. Oh well.”
Once again, you were misinformed.
You know what the best part of misinformation is? Its how easy the truth can trump it. When the truth finally presents itself, the false information has no chance of fighting it off. It has no chance because the truth has no weak links. The truth has no weakness, it doesn’t need to be justified, it doesn’t need to be defended, it just makes sense.
The truth is that you were lied to. You were misinformed. The truth is that you are no different than the media’s glorified winners. You are a human being, with a brain. Your brain is just as mysteriously magnificent as every other humans.
