3 Ways Dreaming Big Builds Resilience

Thought of the Week | Julie Lawson, CEO

"Dream big!" I can't count how many times I've heard this adage throughout my life, nor how many times it scratched my pragmatic sensibilities (I tend to dream sensibly and realistically). But research supports dreaming big: the bigger and higher our goals, the more successful we are in social mobility and career success. So a few years ago, I acquiesced my pragmatism, set aside time to daydream, and set some exceptional goals. The result? I've achieved the majority of them.

While success is a great reason to dream big, you may not know that your dreams also play an important role in building your resilience:

1. The bigger we dream, the less stress we feel. There is a direct correlation between our ability to dream, hope, and set goals and our body's stress reducing power. When we focus on our goals, the stressors inherent in progress become part of the process of success rather than a hinderance. We anticipate - welcome, even - challenges and stress as a necessary part of achieving our dream. Our mindset is therefore focused on the eventual outcome, reducing minute-to-minute stress. When you feel the stress of your daily life, think instead of the bigger picture: what are you trying to become or achieve? How do your actions, choices, and challenges fit into this bigger picture?
2. Our challenges become less significant. This is because the size of our dream allows us to minimize the challenges within. For example, if your dream is to make $1M rather than $100K, the thought of a $10K investment risk doesn't scare us as much. Similarly, our dreams ignite our imagination, which enables us to think more creatively about how to anticipate, avoid, or solve problems as they arise. When you face a challenge, how can you reframe it as a necessary part of achieving your dreams?
3. Hope breeds resilience. Hope is the substance of dreams, and the bigger our goals, the more hope we infuse in them. When we have hope, we have the ability to see past current circumstances into what is better. Belief sustains us through challenges by feeding our perseverance. Of the seven principles outlined in Warrior Principles: Harnessing the Power of Resilience, hope is one of the only non-negotiable ingredients of resilience (we cannot achieve resilience without it). Belief sustains us through challenges by feeding our perseverance and, with hopeful thinking, our neural pathways build a foundation for progress, not stagnation. So what are you hopeful for? What dreams do you have to improve yourself, your career, or your world?

This week, take a few moments to dream big. Set aside time for intentional daydreaming. Want to ensure your success? Write down those dreams on paper. The act of writing out our goals increases our likelihood of achieving them. And finally, share your dreams: saying them out loud, with intention and specificity, creates an environment in which magic starts to happen.

Have a great week!