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Last week I talked a little bit about fear and it being the main obstacle holding you back from living life how you want. This week I’m going to talk about something that kills the dreams of even the most fearless people.
As you gathered from the title… I’m talking about the death of a dream. For me when I see someone who has allowed their dream to die, I see a couple of things. These are also signs for you to personally watch out for:
• Never satisfied
• Always strapped for cash
• Empty feeling
• Like to complain
• Envy people with money
• Feelings of hatred toward happy people
• ALWAYS cynical
• Searching for the next “whatever” to keep them going
• Talks bad about other people more than good
• Finds themselves in a lot of situations where the convo gets boring quickly
• Has a hard time making people smile and feel good about why they are smiling
So after this rant about what dream death looks like, I’ll get back to the topic at hand.
Your dream can die multiple ways and one of them is by letting distractions rule your time.
Distractions can be anything that prevents you from doing what needs to be done to achieve your dream. The first thought that comes to your mind is probably TV. Well that definitely is the largest, but there are more distractions that you may not have thought about. Here are some:
• Lazy/unmotivated friends
• Needy girlfriend/boyfriend
• The News wherever you get it (political, entertainment, gossip, co-worker, etc.)
• Lame environments (sitting in your cube)
• Being unorganized
• Negative people
• Having your cell phone on you all the time (you cannot fight checking it if you have it nearby)
• Messy environments
• Daydreams
• Negative thoughts
I could go on and on but I think you get it. There are tons of distractions and more than I care to name.
Here is what you do:
1. Ask yourself “Is this the best use of my time?” (learned this from Juwon and if you are honest you can easily sort out distractions.)
2. Get organized however it works for you.
3. Make a list of all your distractions and get rid of them or set aside a set time for yourself to be distracted. Sounds weird, yes? This is really hard to do but it is the only way you can save your dream from dying by distractions. The only way this works is if you know what you want out of life and steel your mind to focus on going after it.
4. Lastly, limit your time with people who have let their dreams die. Nothing good can come from hanging out with these people. Maybe a few laughs while you bitch about whatever the latest issue is, but then you are left feeling empty and bored. MOVE ON. You don’t need them but they do need you or they will have no one’s life to ruin but their own.
So there you have it.
Try those four things out and for more than a couple of days.
“Life is meant to be lived, not survived” – Unknown
Thrive or Die!
Aaron
