“Don’t shoot for the moon, shoot for the stars and beyond.”
We all have dreams, some are bigger than others. But what happens when that dream seams to fade away or die? What do we do when life happens? What happens when we are forced with facing “reality”? What is the problem? Is it us? Did we do something wrong? Most of the time, it’s none of these. Instead it is not that we stop dreaming, it’s that adequate time wasn’t given to expanding the dream or going beyond. Oftentimes, it’s not that you haven’t attained your dream it’s that you didn’t dream past where you currently are at.
Let me put it into perspective for a second. There is the saying, “Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will land amongst the stars.” Well guess what. Shooting for the moon is nothing. We should be shooting for the stars and not the moon. It’s like it was written by someone without a true vision.
What I mean is this. It’s one thing to dream to be something like being a singer, an actor or even being an entrepreneur. But what most people do is they aspire to be “something” and don’t think about what takes place after achieving that “thing” they so deeply desire. What’s worse is, so many people don’t even realize they are living the very thing they dreamed about because that original dream was so limiting. It was the “beginning” dream for their ultimate life’s goal.
In other words you can’t be a singer and dream to be a singer at the same time. You either are a singer or you are not a singer. So once you are a singer you can’t become it anymore, because you already are one. It’s like a caterpillar who dreams to be a beautiful butterfly. Then when they become a butterfly they keep dreaming to be a butterfly because they have not acknowledge it yet. It simply doesn’t make any sense. Instead the caterpillar who crawls in the dust dreams to soar in the treetops. So they go through all the steps necessary to soar from spinning their cocoon and transforming into that butterfly. Then and only then can they break out and soar.
Now I want you to imagine what would happen if the caterpillar were to stop in the cocoon and not go any further with their transformation. Because even during the last stage of their time inside the cocoon they are an actual butterfly waiting to come out and to fly. That is exactly what most people with dreams actually do. Instead of fully expanding their dreams to fully soar into the treetops they dream to become “just” a butterfly and forget all about the flying part. These people become their own dreamcatcher and stop their dreams before they even break out of the cocoon.
I guess what it all boils down to is that no matter what your dream is – expand it. Don’t just stop at saying you want to be a working and performing actor, writer, singer etc. You need to be creating a vision about your career. Start dreaming about building a fanbase and signing that contract. Start imagining yourself on a world tour and dreaming about what you want in your dressing room, who you are going to open for or have open for you in your concert. Or as an actor, start practicing your Oscar speech and focus on your big role, not just on tomorrows audition, unless it is for that big role.
See the dream can’t just stop at being just a singer, or just an actor or just a whatever. It has to go much farther. The same holds true for people wanting to be entrepreneurs and any other dream in life. Once you have the bite in you to be your own boss, it’s very difficult to take that away or lose that passion. But instead what happens so often is would-be entrepreneurs give up before even really giving it a solid effort. I heard somewhere that something like 90% of all first-time small business owners fail. Then about 90% of second small businesses succeed but about 80% gave up after failure #1. They forget the dream. They lost their vision. The purpose and why they get up in the morning faded away with their last failure. Just because you don’t have your own succesful business doesn’t make you any less an entrepreneur or not one at all. It simply means you didn’t continue the dream to the next level. The level of success.
True story. As a kid I wanted to be a baseball player. So I made the team. The problem is, everyone made the team. What I didn’t think about was wanting to be able to hit the ball. I was the worst at hitting the ball. I literally led the league in strikeouts. Then before the next season my mom asked, “Keith, do you ever see yourself hitting the ball? If you don’t, you will never be able to.” That following season I was the lead off batter for the opening game. The very first pitch that came in I swung and hit. Not only did I hit it but I got on base with a double. I then went on and got a second hit that same game and actually had the best year of my short career in baseball with a hit almost every game. So my point is, you can’t just stop at what you “want to be” you have see yourself going beyond that and achieving success because of what you are.
So here are 10 tips in the form of quotes that I want to offer to any of you who care to take your dreams to the next level and actually be what you truly want to be:
1. ”We are not defined by our past, we are prepared by it.” – Joel Osteen
2. “I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
3. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently”
- Henry Ford
4. “The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.” – Napolean
5. “Reach high, for stars lie in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” – Unknown
6. “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
7. “Science Fiction, you’re right, it’s crazy. You wanna hear something really nutty? I heard of a couple guys who wanna build something called an airplane.” – Victor Grippi
8. ”Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
- Chinese Proverb
9. ”You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
10. “If you can imagine it, you can possess it. If you can dream it, you can become it. If you can envision it, you can attain it. If you can picture it, you can achieve it. “
- William Arthur Ward
Now here is one from me:
“What you are is who you are not what you do with it. What you do with it is what counts.” – Keith
Have a great week and Break a Leg!
Keith
www.ErimacGroup.com
