Isn’t it time you dreamt?

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream – C.S. Lewis

Everyone’s got twenty-four hours, 1,440 minutes each day, so what you do with yours makes the difference. Richard Branson has 1,440 minutes a day just like the shoe shiner at the bus stop. The difference is how they use the time they have. You can change the way you live your life by making a decision. You don’t have to wait for life to decide for you. The decision you make today could lead you to the life you have always wanted. It starts with a dream. You’ve got to have a dream. It is said that whatever the mind can dream, it can achieve. Let your dream be big, you cannot get penalised for dreaming big dreams. The good things we are enjoying in life today came about as a result of people dreaming big. For you to succeed you must dream and be disciplined enough to follow through.

A dream on its own cannot do much. It will remain in the imagination of the dreamer until it acquires ‘legs’ to move. In Proverbs 29: 15, the Bible says, “Where there is no vision the people perish”. No matter your level in life, one thing you must have is a dream because dreams are essential for success. If you do not have a dream, you’re not really living the way God intends, you’re merely existing. 

A seed is that which grows. When you plant an orange seed, you will have orange fruits; an acorn will grow into an oak tree with constant watering. The same goes for your dreams. If you can conceive it and become committed to it without wavering you’ll have what you desire.

It pays to have a dream because no matter how you look at it, whether or not you have a dream, the clock will not stop ticking. So many successful people today were discouraged from pursuing their dreams. The ones that knew what they wanted stuck to what they believed in and became celebrities. It pays to have guts. Stevie Wonder is a world-acclaimed musician but he is blind. He faced oppositions yet, he made it big in music. He didn’t see himself with an aluminium cup begging for money. He made a difference in his world because of his big dreams.

Nollywood is not complete without the duo of Aki and Pawpaw. They are celebrated wherever they go. What they lacked in height they made up in their creativity and ingenuity. They wine and dine with the mighty – that is the power of having and following your dream.

Do not just dream. You must have the tenacity of purpose to bring it to reality. It has to be mixed with determination and persistence and you must believe in its realisation no matter the obstacles you meet along the way. You may fail even with well-thought out plans but giving up should not be an option.

Thomas Edison failed 99 times but persisted until he got it and we have the incandescent light bulb today. What if he had given up, how would it have been today? What is your dream? Do not bother if people do not believe in your dream; you should understand everybody must not support you. The only way you will win them over to your side is by succeeding in that which you have set your heart at. 

Success is not accidental. It is for those who prepare for it. It is planned. If you want to move up the ladder and change the way you’ve been doing things, then you’d have to make some adjustments. Your success depends on you. Success is not for lazy or idle people. It is for those who plan for it. You have to do something today to make tomorrow better. Associate with people that can direct you to the path of success. It is not like cherries that drop from the tree. It is worked on, you programme yourself for success.

Do not let dream busters have a hold on you. Just like the devil’s mission is ‘to kill, to steal and to destroy’, the dream busters’ job is to kill, destroy, delete or get rid of your dreams. Those people shouldn’t be your friends or confidants. It will do you a lot of good to do away with dream busters. Don’t hang around small-minded people whose lips are fitted with ‘can’t’. For them, nothing is achievable. Your continued association with them will remove the shine off your life.

Remember Joseph in the Bible? His brothers dubbed him ‘the dreamer’ because of his dreams which he told them. Talking about big-time dreamers, Joseph was it! He was young; his brothers didn’t understand what he was talking about. In his innocence he revealed his dreams to them and his life never was the same again after that. Somehow, his father understood the young man but his brothers were jealous of him. It doesn’t pay to announce your dream because in so doing, you might make enemies for yourself. If you follow your heart and do the right thing and not lose focus, you will definitely be celebrated. He didn’t allow the oppositions on his way deter him from going after what he knew would come to pass someday. 

You too can follow suit with careful planning and focus. Do not entertain doubt or waiver, be committed to your vision and you will be on your way to a greater future.

Associate with positive-minded people who will encourage and point you in the right direction. Someone advised that if you must achieve your dream, dream busters are a nay-nay. While you are wary of dream busters, you should stay away from the person on the other side of the mirror who always tells you your dream is unrealizable. That person is YOU. It is very easy to talk yourself out of your dream especially when you try to reason out everything. Your duty is to try and control the enemy within and the one outside won’t be a factor. Do not destroy what you are trying so hard to build. Remember, nothing good comes easy.

According to Willie Jolley, “fear not that you might make a mistake believing in your dream. Fear rather that if you don’t go for it you might stand before God and he will tell you that you could have succeeded if you had just had more faith. Fear not that you might fail. Fear rather that you will never succeed, if you never try and are unwilling to take risks. Fear not that you might be hurt; fear rather that you might never grow if you wait for painless success”.

Someone said about dreams, you might “go for it” and not “for-go it”! How apt!

It is not enough to dream; we have to take action. You should launch out if that dream must come alive. Just like faith without works is dead, any dream without action is useless.