Do you dare to dream?

“My dream always was to build a sailing boat”, he smiles. “And I have already created the design with a well-known yacht architect.” As we start discussing about design elements of boats and how life led these two people together, I let the moment sink in. This is exactely the type of talk that I have missed so much during ‘lock down’. Not meeting new people also means not meeting new ideas. And while you don’t feel the absensce of those ideas on your couch, it is more than deliberating when talking to people and exploring their thoughts and dreams.

Just a day earlier, a lady tells me her story from working as a stewardess to now interacting with opinion leaders of social media and international hollywood productions on a regular basis. She can recall the moment when she met someone on the plane, discussing about his job and developing that dream of working internationally with celebrities. Today, years and many jobs later, that person from the plane is her boss and she loves the thrill of her job. “It meant to be”, she concludes.

Although not everyone has this moment of finding your dream, you can actually stir your thoughts purposefully into such a moment. It is called ‘visualization’. It is a technique that is used in coaching quite frequently. You take some time, sit down, breathe and start thinking about how you would like to feel, work, live etc.. You sink in into the situation and explore what is really important to you. Maybe it is about the people around you, maybe the climate, maybe the type of work you do. After visualizing how you would like to become/live/work, take some notes and let this idea drive you.

Reflecting back on the two talks, I realized how much I lost ‘dreaming’ and ‘thinking big’ during the pandemic measures. Somehow my mind went on the couch as well. But: it is time for dreaming again! And therefore I wondered how my current ‘craziest dream’ looks like. To me it makes sense to dream much crazier and bigger than what I really want because it expands my limits. Maybe I will not reach 100% of my dream – but 80% of a crazy dream is much more than not dreaming at all.

Be encouraged to take some time to think big and crazy for your life. It tunes your mind towards new ideas and opportunities. Compare it to thinking of buying a red car – and all of a sudden you see red cars everywhere. It opens your senses for new options and changes your perspective. You start thinking ‘how it is possible’ instead of ‘why it is not’. And once your mind is focussed on potential goals, you will see doors that you haven’t noticed before.