✕

Psssttt...

Ready to find high-paying clients and build a profitable business?

Get your free copy of Win More Clients, a 20+ page eBook that shows you how to get paid more and the secret sauce you need to create a sustainable freelance business

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

First Name

Email Address

We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.

I need this! I hate spam and won't send you any at all. You can unsubscribe at any time! Powered by ConvertKit

They say the sky’s the limit and I have to disagree. I mean, that metaphor was bust apart when men first started exploring space.

I don’t believe there are any limits. Not when it comes to your dreams – whatever they may be and however you want to reach them.

Whether your goal in life is to explore far-flung corners of the earth, start your own business, or pen a novel, I really think that aiming high and shooting big is the way to go.

Why?

Because what’s the worst that could happen?

Sometimes, when I’m lying in bed just about to fall asleep I’ll have a bazinga moment where an idea plants itself in my head. I’ll quickly make a note of it and then try and get to sleep if my busy brain will allow it.

Come morning, I’m eager to get up and start the day so I can research and dig a little deeper into this idea. Will it work? Why will it work? Is it worth it?

These questions give focus, force you to think creatively, and add a little excitement to the (let’s face it) monotony of daily life.

These ideas and the questions they bring with them are why I think it’s vital to dream big.

There’s nothing better than that initial surge of inspiration when you know you’re onto something good, amiright? Maybe your heart will beat a little bit faster, your hands will get a little clammy, and your brain might start racing faster than the speed of light.

And, when you’re inspired, your mind opens up even more, creating a wide old gateway for even more ideas to surge on through, tacking themselves to the initial idea and bursting off into tangents.

Eventually, you’ll have an idea that’s an absolute mess and too big to even contemplate, but it’ll also give you the quick thrill of possibility. From there you can hone things down into manageable chunks, sort out the wheat from the chaff, and start to really pinpoint the great stuff.

This, my friends, is where genius ideas are born.

I’m willing to bet that the savviest business endeavours and the craziest of adventures started out in a flurry of disconnected ideas and inspirations.

Think about your dreams for a minute and consider how they came about. What spurred the idea? Why is it a dream of yours?

Jeez, all this from that one little thought before bed.

Sure, I hear you say, I have some big dreams. But why are they important? I mean, it’s not like I’m ever going to reach them.

First of all, enough of that negative patter! We have dreams for a reason, even if we know full well that we’re never going to reach them. I mean, I can be pretty certain that I’m never going to be the first person to visit every country in the world. Why? Because it’s already been done.

But it’s not always about the end goal. Yes, it might feel great to hold a hard copy of your debut novel in your hands, but then what?

In actual fact, I believe the benefit of big dreams comes from the approach. As clichéd as it sounds, it’s the journey that matters, not so much the destination.

So why dream big?

It gives you purpose

At the very basis of our form, we humans are just looking for a little meaning in life. I mean, being told that we’re born, work until we’re old, and then die is nothing less than catastrophically depressing.

I can’t remember where I heard it, but I once read somewhere that everything we do in life is a distraction from death. And, whilst I can get along with that on a very basic level, I think it also patronises pretty much everything anyone does ever. Ever.

Even if we are distracting ourselves from the inevitable, having purpose in our life makes us happy. Research has shown over and over again that it’s not the pursuit of happiness that makes us happy (ironically, it does the opposite), it is, in fact, the pursuit of our goals and dreams – even if we never reach them.

It doesn’t limit you or your life

I’ve come up with this crazy old theory. It might be a load of crap but bear with me. I think one of the best reasons for dreaming big is because you might never get there.

If you have a mediocre, relatively easy-to-reach dream and you get there – then what? Snaps to you for actually conquering your dreams but, seriously, then what? You come up with a new dream, maybe a bigger one this time, and you reach that. Then what? Well, you keep on coming up with bigger and better dreams until one day you have an epically proportioned dream that is downright unreachable.

My answer to all this? Don’t limit yourself in the first place. Set the bar high, go all out, throw your chickens out of the basket (what?). Don’t start off on the wrong foot by limiting yourself and, ergo, your fine old life.

It puts you ahead of the rest

Passion fuels the rocket, but vision—a big dream— points the rocket to its ultimate destination.

Man, that’s a good quote from Forbes, right?

Getting ahead in this day and age is a lot, lot harder than it used to be. So you need to stand out. You need to have that pizzazz, that pow-wow, that je ne sais quoi. And what exactly are all of those things that I’ve illustrated in weird, foreign words?

Well, you need to be inspired, creative, imaginative – basically not just another cardboard cut-out.

But where do my big dreams come into this? I hear you ask. Easy.

Remember that little story I told you at the beginning about my thoughts before bedtime?Having big dreams means you don’t limit your thinking. You can see the bigger picture and you’re not afraid to look at it straight on. This, in turn, leads to endless creativity and the ability to be inspired by anything and everything.

That, right there, is gold when it comes to getting ahead in the modern world.

These are a few vague ideas that have been swimming around my brain of late whilst I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with my life and how I want to do it.

It’s the million-dollar question, right?

But first, I think I’ll enjoy the chase.

Okay, your turn. Was this just a load of garbled nonsense to you? Did it make any sense at all?! I’d love to hear your thoughts on having big dreams in the comments below!