Never Give Up On Your Biggest Dreams

Vincent Van Gogh said, “I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.” His outcome was first in his vision before it was on the canvas.

Abraham Lincoln once shared, “To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all; but to believe in the unseen is a triumph and a blessing.”

What is powerful is to make the invisible visible, to see in your mind your outcome and then make it your reality. Every dream, goal, song, book, movie, invention or anything else first began as a thought that someone had.

In the 1970s Sam Walton was trying to get his idea for a new store to take hold. By this time he had done relatively well having opened 78 stores. However, he found he couldn’t compete with Kmart which was running almost two thousand stores. It seemed they were popping up in cities overnight.

It was then that Walton conceived a new idea. Since someone already had the market inside the city, what if someone built a store out in the country that would be within ten miles of three cities? Instead of trying to open a new store in every town, why not build stores that people living in several towns could reach within twenty minutes?

Today Walton’s dream has become a reality, as Wal-Mart has annual sales of $350 billion dollars. Kmart in the end claimed bankruptcy. All of this was born from one man’s vision about what could happen.

Consider golfer Jack Nicklaus. When on the course he wouldn’t even pick up a club until he clearly saw the swing, the arc of the ball and where it landed in his mind. As Bob Proctor shared, he called this process “going to the movies” and is known the world over for his legendary playing.

The key is to not let fear stop your vision. Hold the image of what you want in your mind and then begin to act as if it is already yours. People every day make decisions based on fear. Remember, Earl Nightingale said the majority is always wrong.

There are countless naysayers who talk about what can’t be done. There are untold numbers of critics who feed off of tearing others down, so it is critical to manage your state by managing your focus. Stay focused on your outcome, not the negativity.

In the 1990s markets took four and a half years to change, today they take weeks. Evidence abounds all around us that people that talk about what can’t be done don’t know what they are talking about. Just consider that in six months there will be new markets that don’t even exist today, all because of an image of what could be was in someone’s mind who refused to relinquish their dream to the critics.

So dream your dream, then paint it on the canvas of your life!