5 SKILLS TO MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE
how to develop vision
Many people dream without follow through. Whimsical thinking has its place but all too often purposeful visions never see the light of day. Typically, the full impact of not acting on “what might have been” doesn’t hit until our later years—that’s when disappointment sets in. Jimny Cricket said it best, “when your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme”. The following is an overview excerpt from Dreamcrafting: The Art of Dreaming Big—The Science of Making it Happen. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. 2003.
based on the writings of co authors Paul levesque and Art McNeil
We followed through on our dream of creating forums to recognize people we branded as, “Dreamcrafters”. A small town in Canada, Owen Sound Ontario, was our first beta test site. They became a “ Dreamcrafting Community”, formally recognizing successful dreamers from all walks of life. Unfortunately, the Gulf War derailed our plans. Most would say that we failed—but Paul and I, going all out for the brass ring, shared an important process that we believe remains underserved by parents, educators, community-builders, and business leaders.
Reasons dreams go unrealized:
- no single clearly defined objective
- no mechanism for sustaining the momentum
- not enough time devoted to it
- insufficient support from family, friends, and colleagues
- no understanding of how a stream of little activities can advance a big dream
Five Dreamcrafting Fundamentals: Paul and I referred to the following as macroskills.
- Aspiration—igniting a sense of purpose: To make a dream come true, you must first learn to unleash the full power of your determination to succeed. You must come to feel that you are on a mission with a compelling vision of success to guide you. It’s critical that your dream is clearly focused.
- Motivation—maintaining and intensifying resolve: A common problem is that motivation is high at the outset but fizzles out during the implementation process. For example, most New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by February. Some form of time-released mechanism is required to sustain momentum over the longer term— inevitable setbacks will require shoring up.
- Projection—linking today with tomorrow: Who has time to meet all of today’s responsibilities, let alone work on a big dream for tomorrow? You must free up blocks of time and establish a balance between immediate needs and long term goals—learn to serve your “future self”.
- Inclusion—getting others involved: You must reduce and ultimately eliminate energy draining resistance from those around you. A military instructor advised me during officer training that “it’s better to have potential resistors in your tent piddling out than outside piddling in” Resistors are often disarmed by seeking their help.
- Application—Cultivating a Dreamcrafting habit: Use the macro skills. You can apply them over and over again to make both your big and small dreams come true. Once mastered, share the wealth by teaching others .