When asked what a dream of ours is, most often than not it's something like having a baby or buying a house. Although those are huge milestone accomplishments, why not dream bigger?! There are some dreams that are so big that they may not be accomplished in your lifetime, but you can take steps to move toward achieving those dreams and create a legacy for future generations to do the same.
Steve Jobs was an incredible visionary, and before he was known to the world he had a BIG dream to put a computer in the hands of everyone, not just hobbyists. People thought he was crazy, but he enlisted the right people to make his dream come true. Today his company is a technology giant, leading the industry in the same innovation and creativity that he believed in before his dream was a reality.
One of the key elements in making big dreams come true is the ability to inspire people with your idea. Steve says that a compelling vision that inspires everyone's best efforts meets four criteria: BOLD, SPECIFIC, CONCISE, CONSISTENT. These criteria are also in line with what I teach.
Dreams that inspire are BOLD
No one ever changed the world with an ordinary dream. If you want to make a difference you have to think boldly. For example, instead of dreaming of bringing clean water to one little village, dream of bringing clean water to the world!
Dreams that inspire are SPECIFIC
We can't achieve our big dreams if we are not specific about them. Steve Jobs didn't vaguely dream of changing the world with his technology. He was specific in his dream to put a computer in the hands of everyone. When we think about what we want to achieve we need to be specific as opposed to just having a general idea.
Dreams that inspire are CONCISE
You want people to remember your dream and for people to do that it needs to be concise. You cannot hand someone your dream written out in a 10-page speech and expect them to remember it. To put it simply, your dream should fit into a Twitter post, which is 140 characters if you were wondering. Short and sweet is the key to having people remember you dream!
Dreams that inspire are CONSISTENT
Finally, you need to be consistent in your dream. A fabulous example of someone who exemplified this is a man named Richard Tait. Richard Tait is the creator of the board game Cranium. His dream was to not just build a game, but to build self-esteem. His tagline that he carried through all of his marketing and branding and presentations was, "Everyone Shines." He was consistent in communicating his message and although Hasbro bought Cranium, they kept Tait's tagline. If you are consistent in your message people will be inspired to join you in achieving your big dream.
My dream is that we'll have dreams again. So Dream Big!
