Put Your Dream To The Test

The Ownership Question

You cannot achieve a dream you do not own. You do not have to be a world figure to have a dream.
A dream’s worth is not evaluated by its size, it just has to be bigger than you are. George Eliot: It is
never too late to be what you might have been. Your belief in yourself must outweigh your fears.
Akeelah: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. Do not become a slave to someone else’s dream. Once you own a dream, it also
owns you. Being a slave to someone else’s dream will become a nightmare. Success is doing the best
you can with what you have wherever you start in life.

The Clarity Question

A clear dream makes a general idea very specific, affirms your purpose, determine your priorities
and gives direction and motivation to the team. You must see your dream clearly to seize it.

The Reality Question

Do not adopt a lottery mindset. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Shallow men believe in luck… Strong men
believe in cause and effect. Ann Landers: Rose-coloured glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody
wants to read the small print in dreams. One of the great ironies in life is that you must be
acquainted with reality while not allowing your dream to be shattered. You must balance the
boldness of the dream with the reality of your situation. Make sure you play to your strengths and
build on them. Doing so activates the Law of Least Effort, enables consistently good results and gives
you the highest return. Your dream must be built on habits and your real potential. Aristotle: We are
what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. The limitations we face are not on
the outside, only on the inside. You must align your abilities, habits, potential and aspirations for the
highest probability of success.

The Passion Question

Passion enables us to overcome adversity, gives us initiative and the greatest odds for success. We
must stay within our strength zone but continually move outside our comfort zone. Take into
account your natural temperament, overcome the fear of being different and resist the apathy
which accompanies aging.

The Pathway Question

State your present and future positions and the positions in between. Examine your actions and
consider all your options. George S. Pattan Jr: Successful generals make plans to fit circumstances,
but do not try to create circumstances to fit plans. Utilise all your resources: An innovative idea,
leadership, teamwork, deadlines, creativity and opportunity. Remove all your non-essentials.
Embrace all your challenges. As you work to remain flexible, while the dream stays the same,
everything else is subject to change: timelines, resources, assumptions, plans and team members.

The People Question

Your dream team includes people who inspire you, tell you the truth and whose skills complements
yours. To recruit a team, you have to transfer your vision logically: Address their concerns, be
extremely thorough and have a sound, manageable strategy; emotionally: by speaking it in the
language of their interests; and visually. Leo Tolstoy: We should show life neither as it is nor ought to
be, but only as we see it in our dreams.
The Cost Question
The dream is free, but the journey is not. The price must be paid sooner than you think. The price is
higher than you expect and must be paid more than once. It is possible to pay too much for your
dream. You must pay the price of dealing criticism from people who matter, overcoming your fears
and that of hardwork.

The Tenacity Question

Quitting is more about who you are than where you are. Pay attention to what you think and say.
Waiting for everything to be right is wrong. Jonas Salk: Everything you do is, in a sense, succeeding. It
is telling you what not to do, as well as what to do. W. Clement Stone: Effort only releases its reward
after a person refuses to quit. When you have exhausted all possibilities, you have not.

The Fulfilment Question

Fulfilled people understand the difference between the dream and its realisation. The size of the
dream determines the size of the gap between birth and fruition. To keep your dream alive, you
must continue dreaming, appreciate each step forward in the journey and make new discoveries.
Lastly, buy in the Natural Law of Balance: Life is both good and bad.

The Significance Question

Do something significant for yourself, then do something significant for others. Dare to dream,
prepare for it, own the dream, repair the dream and finally, share the dream. Woodrow Wilson: You
are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply,
with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world,
and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.