Dream Like A Successful Entrepreneur
Before you start your entrepreneurial journey you must first clarify what it is that you want. This work is hard. It is sustained and often fruitless for an extended period of time. People who start without a dream often grow weary in well-doing. They stop. They pivot. They start over. They give up. They don’t have a dream so they don’t have a reason to keep going. The dream will take you where you want to go, even when you’re not in the mood to go down the path to get there.
The dream is not a goal. A goal is a fixed plan with action steps. Dreams are different; they exist in the realm of imagination and evolve with you as you grow as a person. They are not limited by the constraints of a goal. They are much, much bigger than goals. Your dream is unique to you. Dreams are clarified by repeatedly allowing your mind to freely conceive of its greatest desires without limitation. Your dream is a state of being, it is a lifestyle, it is intangible. It is your guide, your personal North Star. You dream from your soul, if you will. Your unique makeup as an individual with all of your strengths, experiences and perceptions will create a unique dream that is your personal domain. You are worthy of your dream because your dream is who you desire to be and the world in which you want to live.
Think of your dream as the state of becoming your potential. Your dream is very personal. It is the journey to the destination of your ideal life. The best part of following your dream is that even if you never reach it, you will achieve what so few ever do: the hope of being the ideal version of yourself.
Imagine for a moment the possibility realizing your dream. You will be living the ideal life you’ve always imagined and that is a worthwhile pursuit. A small setback wouldn’t hold you back from this pursuit. Not even hundreds of setbacks, because in the end it would be worth it.
As we grow, we often put the dreams of our childhood into a safe place where they cannot be harmed by the harsh realities of adult life. We don’t dream new dreams because we have seen failure. We don’t learn to cultivate, respect and pursue what we truly want because a long time ago, necessity required that we first establish our survival. Survival becomes a habit and one responsibility inevitably leads to another. Finally, we come to a place where we can’t take on more than we already have. Or so we think.
Without a compelling dream, we drift. We follow the path of least resistance and make the easy decisions. Mediocrity is the default dream of choice for too many, who do not set their own course.
It’s not too late.
No matter what your life looks like today, a crystal clear dream can become a focus for your daily decisions. A single degree off your current course in the direction of your dream will allow you to reach it in time, without forcing you to completely change your life today. Most people cannot abruptly make a sustained change in a short time frame, but with a compounded effort of small daily decisions, change can become a reality in our lives.
Entrepreneurs who succeed build the foundation of a powerful, inspiring and “unrealistic” dream. It stands as an aspirational version of themselves and the world in which they live and it is the silent influence behind their daily decisions. We hear their success stories and we wonder what makes them different.
It is the time spent clarifying what they want and the effort and actions spent moving in that direction that makes successful entrepreneurs stand out.
I think you have a dream. You may not be clear on what it is yet, but I think your dream is worth identifying and pursuing. You have God-given potential to be great in this life and you can have what you desire if you’re willing to do the work to get there.
Action
- Spend a few minutes silently considering what your ideal life would look like if you could be and have anything.
- Write down everything that comes to mind—even if it’s crazy. The crazier the better. It is often the thing we resist that we should pursue most often. Resistance is fear. Write it down anyway.
- Read what you wrote down and spend 15–30 minutes writing about why this is important to you and what it would mean if it became your reality.
- Start your journey with your new focus in mind and return to it for guidance in your decisions.
Remember, if you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true? Practice the art of ignoring the noise around you and begin to focus more deeply on what you truly want. It’s there waiting for you.
