Where Are You
If you want to know whether or not you are making significant progress in life, this is one question you must ask yourself often. The question may have nothing to do with your current geographical location; but it sure has everything to do with your chronological location. And to answer correctly, you may need to take a journey down memory lane, going one, two, five, ten, twenty or more years in retrospection. This journey will require slow and conscientious mental steps backwards, and it could be quite painstaking.
Many people hate to journey to the past; they prefer the bright promises of the future and the colorful fantasies it dangles before them. For many, a journey to the past would be uncomfortable, especially if it will arouse regrets and bring back awkward memories. The irony however is that if we desire to forge ahead in life, we must know exactly where we are; and to know exactly where we are, the journey to the past is one we should be willing to take.
How Big is Your Dream
What does it mean to dream? Do dreams ever come true? And if they do, how does it happen? If we are able to properly define the meaning of a dream and also establish the fact that they do come true then the most appropriate question to ask will be, “how big is your dream?” Dreaming is an act of pure imagination. Your dream is the peculiar story that your heart is writing about you, or more precisely, the prophecy that you are writing about the world from within your own heart. To dream is to see yourself in the world of your own—the world you have created through the power of your own imagination. To dream is to see the real world in its grandeur. To dream is to see things that are, and say ‘why?’ and see things that are not and say ‘why not’?” To dream is to catch a glimpse of the brilliant future that you hope for. Your dreams are those imaginative thoughts that you indulge yourself with while you are awake. A dream is an episode in the mind characterized by abstraction and isolation from reality but yet so much in consonance with reality.
Aim Big. Start Small. Finish Strong
Every great venture is borne out of a great vision. Before starting a new business, or embarking on an important project, or establishing a ministry or organization, it is essential to dream big, even projecting your influence to the ends of the world. In the realm of the mind, there are no limits to how far you can reach or how high you can fly. But you must be careful how you want to begin. There are many people with lofty ambitions and beautiful dreams who are yet to move an inch beyond the realm of imagination. Their ideas and projects are stuck in ink, beautifully written and carefully crafted on the pages of their diaries. The problem with such people often stems from their approach to starting. Many people assume that if a project is to be grand, then it must begin in a grand style. And for this reason, they put so much time, money and effort into taking their very first step. But there are some who prefer a rather different approach to starting. And while they also have big dreams, they chose rather to launch out with small, steady and secure steps.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
The human mind is a wellspring of desires, an ocean of dreams, a fountain of lofty ambitions. But ironically, only very few people ever get to fulfill their desires and ambitions. Adversity convinces or coerces some to settle for less than they imagined; but there is a vast majority who never even dare, not because of adversity, but because of something far more incapacitating—the fear of failure.
The fear of failure is perhaps the greatest hindrance to success itself. The fear of failure does not merely impede people along the way; it prevents them from starting at all; it aborts their mission before it begins; it terminates their ideas right from the womb. History and experience have shown that the difference between those who fail and those who fulfill their dreams has always been a simple decision to dare. It is very easy to dream; but it takes a certain threshold of courage to make dreams into reality.
Cultivating a Rich Mentality
If you see a man standing with confidence, walking tall with shoulders back and head up high, beaming and striding with a sense of direction; if you see a man exuding energy and enthusiasm, projecting charisma and inspiring awe; if that man is never moved by adversity, never bothered when he suffers loss, never fretful in the face of crisis; if he lives his life with ease and absolute serenity, then two things could be responsible for his behavior: he either has too much money saved in his bank account or he knows something many others do not know. On the contrary, if you see a man walking clumsily, or trudging nervously, or standing aloof. having fear written all over his countenance; if a man lives in constant trepidation and panics over minor disturbances; if he has a typical negative outlook, then two things could also be responsible: he either has an empty pocket or he has an empty head.