DREAM BIG

 

Marcus Aurelius, who rose to become Emperor of the Roman Empire, shares one of the most important secrets of World-Class Achievers: “Dream big dreams; only big dreams have the power to move men’s souls.” Procrastination is one of the biggest complaints I hear from the people we work with. And generally speaking, I believe one of the two main causes of procrastination is a dream that’s too small (the other cause is belief, which I’ll cover later). It’s just too easy to put off doing something that doesn’t have a lot of appeal even if you were to achieve it. 

Big dreams drive us to do things we’d never do for lesser dreams --- in many ways they almost pull us through the obstacles we’re likely to have on the way to reaching them.

Having a specific meaning and purpose in your life helps to encourage you towards living a fulfilling and inspired life. Animals cannot select their goals. Their goals of self-preservation and procreation are preset. There is no changing that fact, at least not in the short-term. Animals’ success mechanism is limited to instincts, preset goal images. Humans, on the other hand, have something that animals don’t have. Creative imagination. Not only are humans creatures, they are creators. We can formulate a variety of goals. We can go after whatever goals we choose! We actively control our creative mechanism by choosing what we want to achieve. 

Our creative mechanism works automatically, endlessly, 24/7, to achieve whatever goals we tell it to achieve. If we don’t consciously choose our goals, our creative mechanism still works, but usually on negative goals. Goals of failure, goals of success, they make no difference to our subconscious. Turning your creative mechanism from a failure mechanism to a success mechanism is a very simple process.Stop presenting your internal software with negative goals and images, and just replace them with success-centered goals and images! Your self-image has a DIRECT EFFECT on your results in life. It will continue to operate as it always has, repeating past results and outcomes, UNTIL you take ACTIVE control over it. It’s not a social convention or a result of culture that causes us to make goals for ourselves. We’re hardwired for it! Our prefrontal cortex, the front 1/3 and most evolved part of our brain, is hardwired to help us generate and achieve goals. Being goal-oriented helps us to keep our behaviors on track and use our brain to its utmost ability. 

 

In Denis Waitley’s book The Psychology of Winning, he states that there are three types of people involved in the game of life: First, there are the spectators. These are the majority of people. They act as bystanders, watching life happen around them. They avoid trying anything new or desirable for fear of being hurt, defeated, ridiculed, or rejected. They spend their lives watching life happen on television. They take a passive rather than active role. Most of all, these spectators fear winning. Winning brings the burden of responsibility, for being a good role model, and setting a good example. Rather than make the little necessary effort to change their life for the better, and play a more active role in their destiny, they sit back and watch others achieve their dreams. They watch television so that someone else can do their thinking for them. They use television as a way to escape from their own thoughts. Brian Tracy would agree, for he said, “people who have no goals are doomed forever to work for people who do.” Next are the losers. They prefer to be like or act like someone else. 

They spend their time criticizing and nitpicking others. Losers are easily spotted because they quickly and readily put themselves and others down. Finally, there are the winners. They are the few who seem to effortlessly acquire what they want from life. They set and accomplish goals that help not only themselves, but also other people. It is your personal responsibility, and yours alone, to actively invest the time, study, and effort needed to learn as much about your brain, self-image, and self-talk as possible. Doing so will put you above the rest of the people that remain-passive in regards to their life. They allow life to just happen to them. 

By studying these principles, these “secrets,” you will gain control over your thoughts, over your goals, and ultimately over your life! Living a life of big dreams is a lot easier than you might think. It’s really just a decision. Here’s a great lesson from the World’s #1 Goal Achiever: When he was just 15, John Goddard was inspired to create a list of 127 “life goals” (he called it “My Life List”). On a simple, yellow legal pad the young boy listed things he had fantasized about. Many of the experiences he dreamed of he had first encountered reading the encyclopedia (he grew up without television and read the encyclopedia for entertainment). When I met John for the first time, the young seventy-something told me that he has accomplished 111 of his original 127 goals --- PLUS 500 others he set along the way! 

 

Here’s just a few of the ones he’s reached:

o       He’s climbed many of the world’s major peaks including the Matterhorn, Ararat, Kilimanjaro, Fiji, Rainier and the Grand Tetons. 

o       He followed Marco Polo’s route through all of the Middle East, Asia and China. 

o       He’s run a mile in five minutes, broad jumped 15 feet, high jumped five feet and performed 200 sit-ups and 20 pull-ups. 

o       He was the first person to explore the 4200-mile length of the world’s longest river, the Nile. It was the number one goal of his life when he made his original list at 15, and prompted the L.A. Times to name him “The Real Life Indiana Jones” when he achieved it. He has also been down the Amazon, Congo and other major rivers of the world. 

o       John has been to 122 countries, lived with 260 different tribal groups, and explored the underwater reefs of Florida, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Red Sea, and more. <