Dream a Little Bigger

Martin Luther King gave the famous “I Have a DREAM” speech, not an “I Have a PLAN” speech. 😉 A plan alone may not light people up. A plan shows the way, but a dream gives us the reason to start moving at all. Dreams, though — oh, those are powerful. They pull us in, set our imagination to work and put a spark in our eyes!

Exactly the same is true of our own lives and thoughts. We often reach only for things already within our grasp. BORING! That does not light us up either. It does not put a spark in our eyes or make us feel alive.

Some people do not dream BIGGER because they fear being unhappy if they fail to reach their goals. The real danger to our happiness is the opposite: setting the bar so low that we reach it easily… Then boredom sets in, the spark disappears from our eyes, and the joy of life fades.

So do not be afraid to dream a little BIGGER! Think of destinations that seem slightly impossible right now — places where you cannot even picture the exact road. Leave gaps in your dreams: undiscovered paths, unmapped mountains. Go and explore! You do not need to know every road at the beginning. It is enough for the destination to pull you and for the next real step to be visible — the rest of the route can be discovered as you learn.

Let us try a small exercise… Fill in the gaps:
2, 4, 6, 8, __, __,
BORING! Easy and realistic.

Now something more interesting:
1, __, __, 100!
Quite different, right? Is there only one correct answer? Is there a best answer? Would my friend imagine a different solution?

How can you apply this to your own life? Here is an example. In 2016, I felt that as CTO I had reached every goal I had set in the company, and I was looking for new challenges in life. I dreamed bigger, this time with gaps. I imagined that a few years later my business partner — the CEO — would congratulate ME on some major achievement. But what achievement? How would I reach it? I left the gaps open.

BOOM! After that, I often began noticing things that might surprise my business partner. Within a couple of years I turned everything upside down: I took over the CEO role at Qstep.eu, made many changes, and my business partner was so pleased that he increased my stake in the company to 46%.

By now, I have used the same method to catch many new dreams, both at work and at home. I recommend it to you too! When you make plans for a better life, do not be afraid to dream a little bigger. With gaps! 😉