When we start our strategic planning sessions we talk about defining your vision or your dream for the future. Remember your dream? Perhaps you were going to retire and sail through the Caribbean on a tall sailing ship. Or turn your hobby into wildly successful business. I was sitting on my deck overlooking the ocean waiting for all my royalty checks to roll in.
Today, instead of sleeping under the stars on a clipper ship in the Caribbean your struggling to keep the bottom line positive and working twelve hour days. So, what the hell happened? Kind of a dumb question because we know the answer. Life happened. We had to work to pay the bills, you raised a family, you got that call from the doctors office, or maybe you had to care for someone sick. All sort of unplanned events happened and interfered with your dream. And along the way you got old. Damn, I hate it when that happens.
Today, you wonder if you still have time to dream. The problem is, once we stop dreaming we stop living. We kind of give up. That recliner starts looking better. We start to think back and realize that our earlier dreams perhaps were a bit aggressive. We talk ourselves out of ever dreaming again. I am betting that we all know someone who decided to sit in the recliner and give up on life believing that this is what retirement was all about.
I was reading the other day and the author pointed out that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the dimensions (This statement was made famous by Ellen Glasgow in the early 1900’s). So, you give up on life, do nothing to enliven your spirits, and perhaps fill the air with complaints. Then you die, from boredom. Isn’t it time for a new dream?
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