“What’s the dream?”
That’s the question that pompous tv show host Simon Cowell asked of wannabe singer Susan Boyle at the beginning of her audition on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009.
The somewhat frumpy looking 47 year old Boyle looked Cowell directly in the eye and, with what appears to be a false confidence states, “I’m trying to be a professional singer.” The judges rolled their eyes at each other. The audience snickered at the gall of this woman thinking she could become a professional.
The number Boyle chose to sing was, appropriately enough, I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. I’m sure that most of you know the story and have seen the video before. Whether you’ve seen it or not it’s worth checking out for the first time or another time and you can do that by clicking here.
Recently, I was having a conversation with my friend Paul Gustavson. Paul is an author, speaker, company founder, friend and mentor. You may remember him from a past post titled, The Dirty Dozen. It’s from Paul’s book Leaders Press On and lists twelve fears that keep us from being our best. You can see that post here.
Not long ago, Paul had the opportunity to speak with some highly successful, high achieving high school students. In his conversation he gave them an exercise to write down their dreams. After giving the students some time to process and put pen to paper he asked them to share their dreams.
Much to his surprise, this group of high flying, go-getter undergrads played it safe. They shared their desires to go to college, to go to graduate school, to get a good paying job, to get married, to have kids, etc. etc. etc. Not one student ventured outside the norm to a place that made people roll their eyes or snicker.
Fear keeps us inside the boundaries. For most of our lives we’ve been told to color inside the lines and follow all the rules. For much of life these are good words to live by. When it comes to our dreams those words are like water on a flame.
It takes courage to really dream. It takes even more courage to let your dream out of your head as Boyle did in her audition. Most of us have dreams but we hold them close. If we share them people might roll their eyes and snicker at us. That is certainly one way to look at sharing our dreams.
An alternative view might be to realize that sharing our dreams might lead us to those who can help make them come true.
I will admit that this is a struggle for me as well. I’m working on it and am living one of my dreams of being a speaker.
Comedian Ray Romano had a dream to host Saturday Night Live. As he grew in his career as a stand up comedian, that was the ultimate vision in his mind. On March 13, 1999 Romano’s dream became a reality. At the end of the show he is thanking his guests, the band is starting to play the closing music and Romano’s last words are, “I gotta get a new dream.”
How cool would it be to have to get a new dream?
Do you have the courage to share your dream with someone today? Don’t let the eye rolls and the snickers keep you from your dream!
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Do you need a speaker for an upcoming event? I’d love to be that guy. You can reach me at dave@cultivatecourage.com or 952-200-7499.
You can now buy the book “Cultivate Courage” on Amazon! https://amzn.to/2Osfxpq
