Dream, Dare, Believe, Achieve

The other day I was watching a science-fiction movie with my 8-year old daughter. In one of the scenes there was a sign that read 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein" 

Wikipedia defines "Imagination" as the ability to form new images and sensations in the mind that are not perceived through our senses such as light, hearing or other senses.  An imagination or dream is the seed that, if nurtured and germinated properly, can evolve into a giant tree that changes the face of the very ground where the seed was sown! Long back, in my school years, I read... Those who dream the most, do the most. 

Every single thing that exists today... from a basic chair or a table; to 3-D printers or flying drone cameras and rotimatic; to "in-concept-stage-yet" products like Google's Self Driving Car, Cicret futuristic bracelet, Corning's "A Day Made of Glass" or Elon Musk's futuristic Hyperloop; every thing was once just a hypothesis, an imagination without any basis, a mere thought or a dream that most average people would have called "improbable", "impossible", "impractical" and "unreal". However, there was someone... who dreamed that big, went against all odds and defied all logic to believe in those dreams. 

Ah! logic... that strange feeling that beckons valid reasoning to anything and everything for acceptance! Sure enough, we have to use logic in our day-to-day lives. But the trouble with logic is... it limits you, it limits your potential and puts a cap on what all can be achieved. Albert Einstein said "Logic can take you only from point A to point B, but imagination or dreams can take you anywhere... everywhere"!

In 1895, a 21 year old Italian dreamer who was working to actualize a very wild imagination at that time, wrote to the then Ministry of Post and Telegraphs requesting for funds to help him progress on his dream of making a wireless telegraph machine. This was such a wild imagination at that time that the minister not only just didn't bother to reply to him, but also referred him to an insane asylum. But Guglielmo Marconi believed in his dreams and materialized it when in 1897 he successfully sent the world's first ever wireless communication message and changed the world for better. Marconi imagined beyond logic, he had a dream, he believed in it and he materialized it.

Success is progressive realization of a worthwhile goal or dream! 

However, it is a pity that a lot of us don't have any worthwhile goal or dream to live for! In fact, lot of us don't even live our lives, rather we just exist without any purpose to our lives. Forget worthwhile dream, lot of people are just like the frog of the well. They don't have any dream at all! Where there is no dream, there is no vision. And I have heard from an extremely successful multi-billionaire entrepreneur quoting from Bible that a man without vision shall perish. 

Of course, there's this little matter of believing in your dreams and backing them up with action. Dreams are an energy that need to be harnessed and channelized in the right direction.  Unfortunately, there are some of us who dream only in the past! Such people have lived their best lives already and have nothing more left to accomplish. They prefer to meander along basking in their past glory. They have no meaning left now for the rest of their entire lives! 

I almost succumbed to that folly of living in my past when I moved from Middle-East to North America and continued to relive those wonderful days that I had left behind, closing my eyes to all the opportunities that North America offered to me. Thank God for blessing me and introducing me to this amazing couple RR, who eventually became my life-mentors and who helped me realize that yesterday ended last night! But for this couple, I too would have continued to exist without any hope for future, without any dreams and eventually would have perished! My mentors RR have, through their own example and work ethics, taught me the importance and the power of dreaming big.

They have taught me how Today Matters  when it comes to managing priorities and chasing my dreams and materializing them. I now realize and understand that it is totally up to me to make my today and my every day count.

Then there are those people who do have dreams, even big dreams, but... they don't have any plans what-so-ever to materialize those dreams. They continue to live with their "some day" and yield up their ghost living unfulfilled lives. Days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years but they continue to live with their "if only". I know many people who have been "thinking" of starting their own business or working out or moving to a new place etc. etc. for years and years and are continuing to "think". Perhaps they are scared of the pains that they'll have to bear in order to get out of their comfort zone and chase their dreams into reality. They don't realize that one has to give up a good life temporarily, to get a great life permanently.  

What such people don't realize is that although they think they are avoiding paying the price, but we always do pay a price. It depends on us as to what price we are paying -  price of success or price of failure?  

John Maxwell says "A reactive person pays the price today for his yesterday's failure while a proactive person pays the price today for his tomorrow's success". 

Finally, there are those who dream big, achieve those dreams, and then go on to dream even bigger dreams! Invariably, such people look at the bigger picture. They are not focussed on just themselves, rather they are focussed on how they can add value manifold to the lives of people around them. In today's world of "I, Me, Myself", it takes for someone with real and strong character to divert attention from just oneself to mankind around. But then, success always has been and always will be a minority. It is only such people who dream big, who take eyes off themselves, that attain true success in life. And true success in life is not just about money, it is about having physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial success. 

Dream big and tie your emotional goals to those dreams. They would be the driving force you need to stay persistent and consistent; and to make your everyday a masterpiece. One of the emotional goals that my wife and I have is to sponsor at least 50 underprivileged children for their education. We are well on our way! This... and our other emotional dreams keep us going and give us the mental strength and fortitude we need every time we face some unfavorable situations. Thanks to our mentors RR, we now realize that although it is fulfilling to achieve personal success, it is much more fulfilling to help others achieve their own personal success. We are part of a truly wonderful system that is helping us achieve our dream of living a life of significance, and of being of significance in the lives of others. And not just me and my wife, even our 8-year old daughter has her dream that when she grows up, she wants to build a residential building so as to provide accommodation to at least 100 underprivileged people! Such is her thought process! She believes that she will achieve her dream... and so do we!

So don't just exist in life, LIVE your life... 

Dream... dream big... believe in your dreams, believe in yourself... achieve your dreams!

DREAM

DARE

BELIEVE

ACHIEVE

And remember...