If you could see into the way I organize my thoughts, and the way I keep track of my ideas, you would likely be terrified. I have a selection of notebooks strewn around my life – on my desk, by my bed, in my backpack. I have virtual notebooks with Evernote and Google Docs. I have Word documents and a list of Google Chrome bookmarks and tabs that would be impossible for anyone but me to navigate. To me, though, it’s a web of ideas, inspiration, and resources. It may be a mess, but it’s my mess, and I can find anything in it.
One of the bookmarks that has been floating around for a while is from a blog that I read regularly, Semi-Rad. Brendan wrote in June about “The Importance of Big Dreams.” He makes the point that
If you start a sentence off with, “I’ve always wanted to…” you either
- aren’t going to do it, which means it’s not really your dream, or
- just haven’t done it yet.
Extremely well said. He talks about the excuses we make about not following our dreams and about the fact that we readily go into debt over mundane items, but balk at the idea of putting a dream vacation or once in a lifetime experience on a credit card.
We all have dreams. I have big dreams. Some are dreams that I want to see realized in the near future, others I know can wait. I want to start a business. I want to get married. I want to race a 100 mile race and a 24 hour solo. I want to take a trip around the world. Do all of those things fall into the first category of Brendan’s either/or scenario? You bet. At the same time, I occasionally need a reminder that they are out there, and that if I’m not working toward them, I’m walking away from them.
What are your dreams? Are they awesome?
