There are two kinds of dreams, the ones at night while the brain goes through its natural defrag process, and the ones in which we look ahead to a future event that seems beyond our reach.
The latter type of dream is really helpful in many ways. They excite us, they motivate us, they inspire us, and they give us direction or purpose. Dreams are more than just goals, they are beyond what we might otherwise think that we can achieve.
Goals are great, I am a very big proponent of setting goals, but not letting them restrict us. It is said goals should be SMART and that's okay for work, personal goals work far better if they stretch us and we dare to dream what we could truly achieve.
Sometimes, we achieve dreams without even realising that we had ever dreamed them. They come in moments of reflection. It happened to me last week when just about to go on stage.
I left school aged 15 without any qualifications, that's the earliest you were permitted to leave. I rose in my chosen career to become a construction manager with a bright future, then decided to join the police at the age of 35. Following a bout of depression mid-career, I rose to a very senior rank with another bright future only to leave at the age of 56 to start a business from scratch.
Last week, in front of the largest audience I had ever presented to, I had a moment of reflection. I was untrained as a keynote speaker yet here I was about to go on stage as the opening keynote to the largest conference of its kind in the country for the horticulture industry.
Dreams are not foolish, dreams are not for the dreamers, and dreams certainly are not a waste of energy. And, sometimes dreams come true without you even knowing that they we were ever a dream of yours.
How did I ever get here? In the same way that you can, keep moving forward. So, what is your dream, for they can indeed come true!