Dare to Dream Big, but then wake up and dare to make Your Dream come true
Much is said about how important it is to have big dreams if you want to go far. And it is absolutely true. The first step to achieving a goal is to define it. If your goal is small, the achievement will be small. On the other hand, if your goal is big, the achievement will be big. So, if we limit our dreams, we are automatically limiting our ability to achieve things. But dreaming big is not enough. To succeed in our entrepreneurial journey, it is also necessary to take the steps needed to make your dream come true.
“An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down.”
Dreaming big and making your dream come true: let’s say these are two different skills required of an entrepreneur. Complementary and essential. One without the other is not enough.
The first is the ability to dream big, to imagine plans, to visualize what others cannot see, to discover opportunities. But the second is the ability to ground those dreams and turn them into concrete realities. That implies the ability to set goals, plan, and execute in a disciplined and consistent way.
Here are the three steps you must follow to turn your dreams into realities.
Step 1 – Dare to Dream Big
What does it mean to dream big?
When you dream big, you raise the bar of what you want to achieve. You don’t set simple and obvious goals, but goals that require effort and that may seem unrealistic to some.
But be careful. Dreaming big in an uncontrolled way can come with the risk of truly falling into the realm of fantasy.
How do you avoid this risk? How can you determine if a dream is really a fantasy?
The task is to learn how to visualize opportunities and discover the things yet to be done, the unmet needs. And to build a possible future in which your action has a positive impact on those needs, in which your work and effort generate a useful reality for a market.
To find these opportunities and dream big, setting goals and objectives that represent a challenge, that raise the bar, you must learn to analyze your reality and the reality of the market in which your venture participates or in which you want to participate, and at the same time dare to step out of your comfort zone and move into an area where uncertainty is greater—but so are the rewards.
Step 2 – Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
There is a conceptual approach, developed by Inknowation, that clearly explains what the comfort zone is, and I love it.
The Comfort Zone is the area where you feel safe. Where you take shelter in the familiar.
Surrounding the comfort zone is the Learning Zone. When you dare to step out of your small comfort core and explore new directions and new experiences, you are entering this learning zone. This second zone allows you to grow and progressively expand your comfort zone to broader limits. It’s a terrain where we give ourselves the opportunity to experience new things. We don’t know the consequences, but we’re willing to trade comfort for learning.
Beyond the learning zone is the zone where the fear of discomfort really takes place. This zone is known as the Panic Zone. It’s unknown territory that generates anxiety because it has the potential to create discomfort. In this zone is where paralysis, “non-action,” tends to occur. However, this zone holds the full potential to become a Magical Zone of growth. It’s the zone of great challenges. This is the zone where entrepreneurs should feel the greatest freedom to explore, develop, and grow.
Big dreams are born in that magical zone. They are created in that unknown terrain that generates anxiety but holds the potential to open great opportunities.
Step 3 – Dare to Take a Step Into the Air
Once you manage to visualize that big dream that lies in the magical zone where opportunities present themselves in all their splendor, it is essential to make the decision to go after it.
Dreaming and dreaming and staying up in the clouds won’t help you succeed if you don’t take a risk.
Risk is part of the entrepreneurial experience. We can’t undertake anything without taking risks. And that’s why, if we want to be successful, we must work on our willingness to take risks, since it’s a necessary skill for entrepreneurs.
Those with high risk acceptance are willing to pursue an idea or objective even when the probability of success is low—especially if the reward for achieving it is high.
When the dream is big, the goal may seem too far away, too difficult, or even unattainable. To achieve it, you must accept the risk and leap into the unknown.
Step 4 – Dare to Make Your Dream Come True
As the quote at the beginning of the article says, it’s not just about jumping off the cliff—you need to build the plane on the way down. Otherwise, you’re going to crash.
That means you must be capable of developing strategies and taking the necessary actions to reach the goals that your big dream implies.
Without a proper plan, the best dream will fade away without ever being achieved.
Without discipline and consistency, the best plan to achieve a dream loses meaning because it never gets executed.
So, the entrepreneur is someone who:
Dreams big
Steps out of their comfort zone
Takes a risk
Makes a plan
Executes it
The BIG dream is an indispensable starting point.
If your dream is small or limited, even if you achieve it, you won’t build a successful and outstanding venture, since the result will be small, limited.
The BIG dream is not sufficient in itself, but without that starting point, there is no clear possibility of achieving great success with great ventures.
