What Do You Do When Your Dream Is Bigger Than You?

Big Dream, Little Me.

The more time I’ve spent working on Dream Nation, the more I’ve begun to understand just how much potential this project has to impact lives around the world. At first, it was exciting, but then as the vision continued to grow it became overwhelming.

I’m a pretty accomplished entrepreneur for my age, with a few awards, investments and successful businesses under my belt… but I was starting to feel inadequate.Every day I would work as hard as possible but my to-do list was only getting longer. As other people started to see the potential of Dream Nation, they would offer their encouragement and suggestions, which was great, but honestly, it just added to the pressure.I found myself waking up and going to sleep with the same question on my mind: How on earth am I going to do this?! Thankfully, I have a few answers.

Trust The Process

The first thing to understand is that when your vision is too much for you to handle right now, you only have one option. You have to grow. Compare your growth as a Practical Dreamer to the growth your body goes through when you work out. In order for our muscles to grow, we have to put our bodies under so much stress that our muscles break. This splitting of the fibres will trigger a healing process, which once complete will result in your body adapting by growing back more and thicker muscles.

Just like working out physically, while we are going through situations that stretch us beyond what we thought we were capable of, it will lead to our personal development. As long as you don’t quit you will become stronger and the things you struggle with today won’t be an issue for you tomorrow.

Invest In Your Growth

This might seem like common sense, but I know from experience that when you are under pressure taking the time out to deliberately plan your growth is not even on your to-do list. However, if you don’t take the time to do this, you won’t get very far.

In my opinion, the best way to invest in your growth is by reading more. So many great books have been written by people who have overcome the same difficulties you’re facing. So you can save yourself years and a lot of pain by learning from their experiences. A few books I recommend for everyone are (P.s. These are affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking this link you help fund Dream Nation at no extra cost to you, perfect right!):

Learn To Lead And Manage

When the task is big enough then it doesn’t matter how much you grow, you won’t be able to do it alone. And as you’re here I have the feeling that sooner or later this will apply to you.

Leadership is simply the act of influencing others to join you in your mission. This is different to management, which is the process of organising other people to complete a known task in the most efficient means possible. Both are important, and both have their place.Both areas are far too complex for me to even begin to explain here, but what I can say from my experience is that to be good at both these tasks, I would start by looking in the mirror. Give others the confidence to trust in you by first learning to lead and manage yourself.

Take Care of Yourself

This was my biggest struggle. I’m the type of person to bury myself in my work until the task is done. So I used to go for days without eating properly, exercising, socialising and ignoring all the things which make me human. Writing this today, I wish I could teach the younger me this simple lesson: The Happier You Are, The Better You Will Be.

So make sure you are looking after your body, mind and soul in whatever way works for you.

Questions and Actions

Whatever your vision is, I hope this is useful for you. If you have any suggestions from your personal experience, please feel free to share it below to encourage others, and of course, if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments as well.