Do you have a lifelong dream? I’m not talking about climbing Mount Everest or meeting some actor or athlete. Those things belong on your bucket list. I’m talking about something at the very heart of what you want to do with your life. Something at the very core of who you are. And who you want to be.
I’ve read a bunch of comments on Facebook and received a pile of emails from people telling me that they don’t know where to find that thing that drives them. That reason. They don’t know where or how to look for that elusive goal that they see other people pursuing. They don’t have a lifelong dream.
You find these lifelong dreams in and around your passions in life. One of the things I admire most about people is that fire…that passion. Passion in anything. I don’t care if it’s sky diving or couch potatoing, if your psyched to be doing it, I want to be around you when you’re doing it. I want you to want to talk about it. When someone else brings it up, I want you to light up the room.
A lifelong dream should be built out of your passions. Taking something you are very passionate about, even an ideal you are passionate about…and building your lifelong dream out of that.
It is not hard to find your passion. What do you love doing? If you retired today, what would you do with your time? That’s probably something you’re pretty passionate about. Is it sitting on the couch and watching TV? Maybe that’s your lifelong dream. And that’s fine. So then you should work at the highest paying job possible, so that you can retire as early as possible just so you can watch TV. Take what you’re passionate about, and put yourself in it. Or effort towards it as much as possible.
You always dream of singing in front of crowds of people, writing novels, or directing movies. Are you doing anything to make that dream happen? Think you’re too old or too young or too busy? I guarantee there are people your age doing it already. And there are people both older and younger and busier than you, putting effort towards that same thing, right now as you’re reading this. And I’ve asked this question before, but if you’re not putting efforts towards your lifelong dream, what are you doing with your time?
Relatively recently, I’ve developed this interest in science. I don’t know what it means. I don’t know where it will go. But I find myself to be extremely curious when it comes to several different areas of physics and biology, and any of the sciences that deal with space.
I now subscribe to a weekly science magazine. I find myself frequenting sites like space.com and I read the science section of the New York Times, sometimes before the sports section. Right now, I’d call this just a hobby. Maybe in time, it’s something I pine for. And at that point, I’m going to need to build at least a part of my life around it.
Maybe science becomes my main hobby, and I become so passionate about it that a lifelong goal springs up, and I feel this overriding need to study narwhal whales or dark energy. Then I would take the necessary steps to do thoswe things.
Your lifelong dreams will be revealed in the things you are most passionate about. You need to think about your passion and a potential dream scenario. Focus on it. And ask yourself the question, what would be ideal? And lifelong dreams around your passion will emerge.
And no dream is entirely impossible. Do you one day dream of playing in the NBA? But you’re 5’6”, slow and can’t jump. It isn’t to say you can’t have that dream realized to some extent. While there is zero chance you will play in the NBA, who is to say you couldn’t coach in the league? Lawrence Frank is 5 foot nothing and he coached the Nets for a pile of years. He didn’t even play in college, he was a team manager. He probably washed players uniforms for a while. But he apparently knew what he wanted and he went after it.
If you can’t say there are things you are truly passionate about, you really need to start expanding your reach. Put yourself out into spaces and places that you’ve never been. Expand your mind and your experiences. Passions will start to develop. Staying in the same stagnant pool of water won’t get you anything but malaria. Get out there.
I was at home and decided to watch a documentary on a samurai warrior. I had never heard of Miyamoto Musashi. I wasn’t really into samurai history. I don’t really know why I watched it. But now I’m writing this blog and living what I would call a lifelong dream that I never really knew I had.
Find your lifelong dream in something you are passionate about. Then make that dream come to life.