Now is the right time.  Ask any of the Olympic medal winners or last night’s Oscar winners.  They will tell you, NOW is the right time.

            At the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Gardiner Sisters agreed in song… “Follow your heart, right from the start.”  Now is the right time to start living, or working, your dream.

            The word “dream” is spoken a lot on these momentous occasions.  It’s a word that is expected, accepted and real when spoken by the top performers in these fields. And yet in everyday life, dreams are often sabotaged by doubts and doubters, perpetuating not just short term procrastination but lifelong regrets.

            Dreams are founded on passion, and when pursued generate more energy than any other motivating factor.  With total belief, they give the power to propel beyond any perceived obstacle.

             In the business world, dreams exist in the beginning as organizations are created. With maturity, comes a different attitude. Dreams are seen as soft, a head-in-the-clouds waste of time, being too abstract and just a wish.  Quite frankly, dreams that aren’t pursued are just that.

            Businesses take up strategic planning, which many believe to be a more concrete process. The problem with most strategic plans, though, is they leave out the dreaming step, and end up with more of the same. They wrongly perceive the key word to be “more,” when it is the “same.”  And the “same” isn’t a long-term strategy for success. 

            The vision, the imagination and creativity that helped crystallize the organization’s path in the beginning is not tapped. Mired in protective mindsets, safeguarding the position of individuals and the organization, new directions feel too risky.  Nay-sayers are honored, for what is usually mistaken as loyalty.

            Ironically, dreamers who engage in the pursuit, work the steps of a strategic plan.  Gathering information, determining action steps, creating measurements, as well as planning and adjusting for obstacles along the way are just what they do. The difference is that their level of belief, passion and drive carry them further.  They take the necessary hard work in stride, and safe is no where on their radar.

            Geoffrey Fletcher, when accepting his Oscar for Precious, Best Adapted Screenplay, acknowledged the work and shared the moment, saying, “This is for everybody who works on the dream everyday.”

            Life pursuits are no different than those of business.  In working with kids, I hear them talk about their dreams, and then the possibilities for failure.  They’ve heard such things as “most don’t make it,”  “you can’t do that,”  “you might not win.”  They are hungry to talk about how their dreams could come true, a topic often avoided in an effort to keep them from getting their hopes up too high.

            On into adulthood and the work place we go, all the time being cautious with our hopes.  And yet, when given the chance, we want to be there to experience dreams coming true for others.  We soak in the feelings of victory and success, allowing ourselves, for a few moments, to dream again.

            In so doing, try to remember this perspective from Sarah Ban Breathnach, “The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.  But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”  And then consider some “doing.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Confidence, Culture, Decision-making, General Business, Mindset, Originality, Strategic Planning, creativity.