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24.12.2015 Opinion

Dare To Dream

By  Laud Anthony Basing
Dare To Dream
24.12.2015 LISTEN

Two of my favorite songs actually have the same title but were sang by musicians centuries apart. They all talk about a topic of so much importance that I like to listen to them before I leave the house each morning. They are both entitled “ The Power of the dream” by Linda Thompson and Céline Dion.

Thompson says ‘The power of the dream, the faith in things unseen, the courage to embrace your fear- No matter where you are, to reach for your own star… to realize the power of the dream.’

Celine Dion puts it better “Deep within each heart, there lies a magic spark

That lights the fire of our imagination. And since the dawn of man, The strength of just ‘I can’ Has brought together people of all nations…”

“Your mind will take you far, the rest is just your heart

You will find your fate is all your own creation

And every boy and girl as they come into this world

Bring the gift of hope and inspiration…’

‘Feel the flame forever burn

Teaching lessons we must learn

To bring us closer to the power of the dream

As the world gives us its best, to stand apart from all the rest,

It is the power of the dream that brings us here”

I know you are wondering why you are reading about two musicians who all sang about dreaming. The first step to learning anything in life is to dream. To be able to learn effectively, you must know what you want in life, you must know what you want to do, to be able to learn towards it. The future you want will not come to you by mistake, you first have to envision it and then plan towards it. Everything we know today started as somebody’s dream, your dream will come true if only you can see it, if you believe in it, then you can achieve it.

I had the privilege of being invited to the Vodafone African SME summit in Accra recently and my take home message from the summit was that the problem in Africa is that we do not dream enough. We have stopped caring about what happens to the continent, our countries and ourselves.

When we stop dreaming, innovations cease and we remain stagnant. For instance, in the next twenty years, 80% of the population in Europe, Asia and the Americas would be nearing retirement and productivity will reduce drastically. In Africa however, 50% of our current population is below the age of 20. Most economies in Africa are also becoming emerging economies with the middle class growing. This means that we are having a relatively young and prosperous population. Any businessman who can develop products to target such a population will make it big.

Where are the ideas? How are we thinking about the next ten, fifteen or twenty years; there is power in our dreams, for when the soul wants to experience something, she throws the image of that experience in our subconscious mind. I’m sure we have all heard the expression, "What you see is what you get." My father used to say: "If you look at a tree long enough, it will move." We see what we want to see. Dreams are like stars, you may never touch them, but if you follow them, they will lead to your destiny

Psychologists tell us that nothing controls our live more than our self-image. We live like the person we see in the mirror. We are what we think we are. If you don't think you'll see be successful, you won't. You can't be it if you can't see it. Your life is limited to your vision. If you want to change your life, you must change your vision of your life. Dr. Joyce Brothers says “ Before your dream can come true, you must first have that dream”

Arnold Schwarzenegger was not that famous in 1976 when he met with a newspaper reporter. The reporter asked Schwarzenegger. “Now that you've retired from bodybuilding, what do you plan to do next?" Schwarzenegger answered very calmly and confidently: " I'm going to be the #1 movie star in Hollywood."

The report wad shocked and amused at Schwarzenegger's plan. At that time, it was very hard to imagine how this muscle-bound body builder, who was not a professional actor and who spoke poor English with a strong Austrian accent, could ever hope to be Hollywood's #1 movie star!

So the reporter asked Schwarzenegger how he planned to make his dream come true, Schwarzenegger said: " I’ll do it the same way I became the #1 body builder in the world. What I do was to create a vision of who I want to be, then I start living like that person in my mind as if it were already true." Sounds almost childishly simple, doesn't it? But it worked! Schwarzenegger DID become the #1 highest paid movie star in Hollywood! Remember: " If you can see it, you can be it."

To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when stars shine brightest. To come to be, you must have a vision, a dream, a purpose, a principle.

You will become what your vision is. You must dream the impossible dream, fight the unbeatable foe, and strive with your last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star. Big thinking precedes great achievement; therefore by recording your dream on paper, you set in motion, the process of becoming the person you most want to be

A successful businessman I know wears a shirt with these words on it. "Don't just pursue your dreams. Chase them down and tackle them!" You only get one life to live, so why not live the best life possible? So you can be fully satisfied at what you see and get. Just think about it for a minute!

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