There’s an old cliché that says “Dreams really do come
true”. And if you talk to some of the people closest to me, they’ll tell you
they hate it when I use clichés and generalities. I understand why they say
such things, but in this case the cliché works to touch off a discussion about
an issue I have been thinking about for quite some time. My thought is simple:
What does it take to make a dream come true? Let me first start off by telling
you that I don’t have the definitive answer to that question for you. The
details of each dream dictate the course of action necessary for success and if
I knew how to make every one come true, I’d be rich, famous, powerful, and
living the easy life on a tropical island paradise.
Okay, so I don’t have minute specifics for you but I think I
can come up with a few basics. Knowing what you really want, having a plan, a
support structure, and effective guidance all sound like good elements to
include in your master plan. Sprinkle in determination, persistence, resolve,
and of course commitment… Oh that word Commitment. It’s the bane of many a
person’s existence; the fear of it, talking about it, actually doing it. It’s
enough to make any boyfriend go running for the hills (oops, I’ve fallen into a
cliché again). Really though, committing
to the dream is at the top of the list of things required to making a dream
come true. But why?
I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine. A couple of
years back, my brother and I started a very small business. We tried to sell
t-shirts with whimsical, funny, and irreverent sayings and designs on them. We
lacked practical business experience and knowledge as neither of us studied it
in college, but we had a dream. We set out to educate ourselves on all the
necessary business aspects needed to make our project a success. I even started
this blog to get more attention for our website. To make a long story short, I
tried to make the business work, but my effort proved insufficient. I gave it my
all and still failed. Or did I give it my all? You see the most valuable lesson
I learned about the whole endeavor was about commitment, although I learned the
lesson far too late. At the time I didn’t recognize how uncommitted I was to the
project. You know how some people live, breath, and eat totally focused on
their goals? Well that wasn’t me and it negatively affected my performance in
making things successful. So why couldn’t I commit? The short answer is I
followed the wrong dream. You see I didn’t really know what I wanted out of my
t-shirt company, so it blurred my perspective.
I guess it might be fair to say that if you can’t commit to
a dream, really pour your talent, time, energy, and thought into it, that thing
probably isn’t really your dream. It’s not a pleasant thing to fail, but in a way
all of that might have been necessary. That experience taught me two valuable things.
First, I realized I really wanted to commit to writing, something that would
fulfill me professionally and creatively. Second, l learned truly committing to
something meant that all my actions should reflect my efforts in achieving my
goal. To put this into a different perspective, I refer back to the
conversation where my brother curtly stated that I was not a writer. And what
did I do in response to that statement? I wrote a novel. See that’s commitment.
I know, and knew then, writing was part of my identity. I just needed a push
(some might say violent shove) to solidify that perspective in my own mind. I’m
not a businessman, but I am a writer.
Can you think of anything you want or wanted that ultimately
proved out of reach? What kind of commitment did you devote to it? Was it
really worth it? I’d say for a dream to be worthy of your total commitment it
really must excite your passion, almost to the point of obsession. Don’t go
crazy mind you, just let that commitment really fuel your drive for success.
So, it comes down to a simple choice: are you willing to commit to your dream?
Questions and comments are welcome.
