CHASE YOUR DREAM

At least twice every week, I take the train to Leeds, and if you have been in Leeds train station you will know it is a very big and busy station. Most times, the chance of meeting someone you know is very small. But on this fateful day, someone called me by my full name in the crowd as I was about to board the train. I was surprised, and while I was still trying to recollect who he was, he said, “You were my brilliant club tutor at XYZ School.” I was so excited to meet him. I said, “You have really grown,” because he was now taller and I could hardly recognise him. I also remembered what he once told me he would like to become back when I was teaching him, so I asked, “Are you still chasing your dream?” He replied in a very assuring way, “Yes, I am.”

That brief encounter with this lad gave me a gut feeling that there was a message in it for both me and you, especially as the year is coming to an end. How well have you and I chased our dreams and goals for this year? Have you stopped chasing your dreams, or are you about to give up? In this note, I will be sharing how you can effectively go after your dreams and goals.

1. Make it plain

What you see can have a great influence on who you become. Hence, it is important to see right (imagine) and to translate those visions not only into dreams but also into plain and visible tokens like texts or drawings. If you dream of joining NASA as one of their astronauts working in space, it is possible. However, you need to start somewhere. For example, you can create an AI‑generated image of yourself in a spacesuit and paste it on a wall. Make sure you see this image every day; in fact, you can stare at the image before going to sleep. Beyond that, speak about it to your friends. Let your family know. When you implement some of these baby steps, something is ignited in you and you begin to see ways to actualize the vision.

I was listening to Les Brown recently and was shocked that at 80 he is still talking about the amazing things he intends to do. When you speak about a vision you have, it shows that this is something dear to your heart. Making your dreams plain is all about defining how you are going to move from “here” to “there.” Do you have specific goals and plans for next month, next year, and the next 10 years?

2. Go to work

Here is the honest truth: if you want to achieve something, you have to go for it wholeheartedly. Sometimes we make flimsy excuses about why we did not chase our dreams: it is because of this and that. Imagine you were told you had 10 years left to live; don’t you think you would act differently?

When you are trying to chase a dream, the two vital enemies you need to fight are distractions and excuses, and in reality, you have power over both. Going to work is like betting on yourself; you are deliberately giving yourself a chance to manifest your dreams. You need energy, wisdom, and good character as you try to achieve your dreams. It is okay to be scared sometimes about how your dreams will work out. If you ask anyone who has achieved something great, they will tell you to just start and have faith. So keep moving. Your dreams are valid. As you consistently take those small steps, sooner or later they will add up to a giant leap.

3. Update and evolve

Your goals need to be updated as things become clearer to you. After hitting or achieving a goal or dream, it is okay to bask for a moment in the glory of that conquest, but you have to move quickly to the next big dream. Never stop dreaming.

For instance, you can set out to build a company solving problem X. After starting and experimenting with different things, you will get to a point where your confidence in the business is high and your understanding is solid. This stable and peak point is where companies that do not survive many years often miss it. Rather than relaxing, innovation is needed at this point. With the right mindset, you will soon realise there is a Y and then a Z component to the business. The secret to an advancing life is to refuse to pitch your tent and rest for too long whenever you get to the summit of any mountain. You need to constantly update your goals in a similar way you update your phone’s operating system.

Conclusion

Champions are made by coaches who have no sympathy for tiredness or frustration. They are always pushing because there is a target. Are you on track with chasing your dreams? Life has no duplicate. What are those things trying to stop you from chasing your dreams? You need to summon courage and push against the force of gravity that is trying to pull you down.

What are your dreams like, and where are your plans to actualize them? Are your dreams plain? Are you working on them? Are you updating them? It is important to have dreams because if you do not, you might just spend your life chasing the dreams of others.

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to drop your comment below. I am Samuel Ayankoso, a mere quester with some ink to write.

Quotes

”You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.”
~Les Brown

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
~Vincent Van Gogh

”Dreams are not what you see in your sleep, they are the things that don’t let you sleep.” 

~Cristiano Ronaldo

“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.”
~Les Brown