Walter Anderson, author of The Greatest Risk of All (Houghton Mifflin, 1988), claims that by the time we reach our 20s, we will have heard the word "can't" 25,000 times. You shouldn't expect a lot of support for your "foolish dreams," so reach deep within to turn "can't" into "can." Here are some motivation-boosting tips to get you started.
Becoming the Future You Dreams, by their very nature, are about the future. With so many present-day demands on your time, a dream can seem distant or unrealistic. The more far-off the goal, the less likely you are to act on it.
Make sure your dream doesn't fall prey to the "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" syndrome--bring it into the present. To do this, you must become the future you. The next time someone asks what you do for a living, don't answer in terms of the present, but as if you were actively engaged in pursing your dream right this minute. In other words, squelch that pat "I'm an accountant/salesman/social worker/homemaker" response and say, "I'm an aspiring mystery writer," or "I'm returning to school to become an oceanographer," or "I'm in the process of changing careers to pursue my love of gourmet cooking."
It doesn't matter if you haven't written a single page of your future bestseller, sent away for one college catalog, or lifted a finger to pursue your passion for cooking. The dream that once felt elusive will suddenly begin to feel real. And when that happens, you will be amazed at how much sooner you'll get the change ball rolling. Before you know it, you will actually become the future you!
Get Inspired Someone who knows a lot about the power of "acting as if" is Steven Spielberg. Hoping to fulfill his filmmaking dreams, young Spielberg sneaked onto the lot of Universal Studios and became a squatter in an empty office. He even bought plastic letters to display his name in the building directory. Security guards and execs naturally assumed that the guy belonged there. His highjinks paid off. Spielberg's first directorial break came when the studio bigwigs finally saw his first film and liked what they saw.
This and other success stories can be found in Mischief Marketing: How the Rich, Famous, & Successful Really Got Their Careers and Businesses Going (Contemporary Books, 2000). Author Ray Simon reveals how famous people as different as Mother Teresa, jazzman Duke Ellington, comedian Andy Kaufman, the late rap artist Big Pun, and Benjamin Franklin got started in life. Now you can use their mischievous techniques to do the same.
But, as encouraging as these success stories can be, learning about another's failure can be just as inspiring. Did you know that Bob Dylan was booed off the stage at his high school talent show? Or that Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job for "lacking ideas?" Or that Thomas Edison failed to perfect the light bulb until something like his ten-thousandth try? How many "can'ts" do you think these dreamers had to endure?
Learn From Failures And when faced with a dream-buster, these "failure stories" can make great comebacks, too. Would Beverly Goodman Park's critics have been so quick to discourage if she had pointed out that Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was 80 years old? What if she told them that, of 1,500 paintings, 25 percent were produced when Moses was past 100?
"Persistence," said Robert Half, "is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite." As anyone who has ever chased a dream will tell you, disappointment, self-doubt, and failure go with the territory. The trick is to recognize these setbacks for what they really are--bumps in the road, not the end of the road. And Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham put it this way: "To love what you do and feel that it matters--how could anything be more fun?"
This is your life we're talking about here, so what are you waiting for?
Valerie Young is a former cubicle-dweller who now helps others discover creative alternatives to having a job. She is the "life change master" at www.changingcourse.com, an online source for people who want discover their life mission and live it.
