Passion, Dreams, Goals, or Experiences?
Over the last several weeks I have written about opportunities, decision making, and eliminating naysayers. In this final column of the series I want to wrap up with bringing dreams to life. Or better yet, posing the question is it passion, dreams, or goals that bring success and change to us? One person’s passion, may be another’s dream, and yet another’s goal.
Passion is the ultimate driver for any success and is typically seen as energy or commitment, for without passion opportunities are doomed to failure because it is easy to quit. I am most intrigued by life-long passions like Einstein’s research or an unknown 50-year Bridge player named Mary Alice Seville of Corvallis, Oregon. I wonder what drives these people to maintain their commitment. My wife and I discussed passion this past week and I had to admit, I probably have no current passions. In contrast, dreams paint a picture in our minds about our future; a picture of a day not arrived whereas passion on the hand is what carries us through the gloom, threat of failure, and makes an ordinary day exciting.
Dreams are what we wish for, talk about, and bring radical change to our life. With energy, enthusiasm, perseverance, and passion I believe anyone can achieve their dreams. None are impossible, having typically been proven by others doing them, but we must understand elements of dreams are out of our hands. Thus, it is important to understand a subtle difference between dreams and goals. While dreams are typically dependent on others, like “I want to be a rock star,” goals are of our own control. Sadly, failure to achieve dreams is common because many are not grounded in reality and external factors wipe out their probability of success.
Goals are milestones, generally steps on the way to achieving our passion and dreams. Most people would find personal goals synonymous with resolutions, describing accomplishments over both short and long periods of time. Goal setting lends itself to providing a long-term vision for our lives, and most likely spawns from our passion. Examples of goals are running a marathon, losing weight, or making ten sales calls per day; all specific and not dependent on outside variables. As exemplified above, goals are differentiated from dreams by eliminating external circumstances. For example, my goal of riding my bike cross-country is dependent on my ability to train and plan, not on acceptance by others.
Lastly I want to touch on experiences; the toughest for me because finding the difference between goals and experiences is difficult. When I look at some of my personal goals: own a Porsche, or ride my bike across America, I must wonder if they are truly goals or desires for an experience. This is the everyday mental battle I face and therefore work to find underlying commonalities.
Regardless of whether considering passion, goals, dreams, or experiences we must be cognizant to opportunities knocking. When hearing the knock I feel we are obligated to actively make decisions, and eliminate negative people from our lives. Each of us can improve our lives dramatically and even more so by developing a long-term vision. It is obvious though, we are all different and everyday many people accomplish what others consider impossible. To those that see impossibility they should look to others for inspiration and how to achieve success. Ultimately though, if we find our passion then our lives fall into sync and our dreams become reality.
Recent Comments