Today’s episode of Creating The Path is about dreams. But not the kind of dreams you have when you’re sleeping. The dreams you have for your life and your business. Inspired by Martin Luther King Day, I invite you today to write your own “I Have A Dream” speech.
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Topics discussed in this episode:
[00:50] Martin Luther King famous “I Have A Dream” speech
[02:07] Why I believe the “I Have A Dream” speech was so impactful
[04:05] The difference between dreams and goals
[04:44] The importance of getting clear on your dreams before setting goals
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Noteworthy Quotes:
“You, living your dream life - whatever that looks like - is a great achievement.”
“Maybe some things are achieved by accident or by chance, but mostly, I think it all starts with a dream or an idea, which then leads us to take action in the direction of that dream or goal.”
“A dream to me is the big picture of what I want. And goals are the way to bring that dream to life.”
Summary of the Podcast:
Creating the Path is a podcast that challenges multi-passionate entrepreneurs to achieve their goals by working less and eliminating overwhelm, so they can create their own unique pathway to a life they love. My mission is to transform hustle culture and assist others to shift away from living life on auto-pilot to living intentionally and following your own path to a life you love instead.
Host Bio:
Heather Grace Hanson is a certified positive psychology-based coach and creator of the Intentional Energy Framework, a system that empowers you to create a life and business you love without burning out. Heather is obsessed with all things personal development, running and walking in the park, interior design, salsa dancing and most importantly, spending time with her pup, Barclay.
Episode Transcript:
Let's talk about dreams today. Not the dreams you have when you're sleeping, but the dreams you have when you're awake, the dreams you have for your life.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was yesterday here in the US, if you're listening to this on the day this episode goes live, and as we all know, his most famous speech was his “I have a dream” speech.
He said a lot of inspiring and wise words over the years, many of those quotes I'm sure you saw on social media yesterday, and so it got me wondering why, of all the things he said, why are the words “I have a dream” the ones that stand out above all the other things he said?
Everyone remembers that line, but I would guess that most probably can't quote word for word what he said after that. They know the general context, but the words we all remember are “I have a dream” and I think those words “I have a dream'' were so powerful for a few reasons.
It's powerful because we're naturally more drawn to what we want than to avoiding what we don't want. For example, after saying “I have a dream” he could have listed all the negative things that he hoped would go away or that he hoped would change, but instead he described life the way he dreamed it could be without racism and injustice.
And maybe the speech would have still become his most famous speech either way, I can't know that for sure, but I don't know if it would have had the same impact if his dream had been to change what he didn't want instead of painting the beautiful picture of the future that he did want.
I think it was also powerful because the dream he described resonated so deeply with all the people there. It was something they wanted so badly and probably until then didn't imagine it could come true, but hearing it out loud made it real. It painted a picture that people could look to and say that's what we want. That's the goal. And the content of his speech isn't the point of this episode. It's definitely a great discussion to have another time, but my point here is the power of dreams.
I think everything starts with a dream, or at least all great achievements start with a dream, and when I say great achievements, I just want to be clear I don't just mean large scale cultural change or something like that. A great achievement doesn't have to be changing the world. A great achievement can be changing something just in your world. You, living your dream life, whatever that looks like, is a great achievement. And in order to get there, you have to start with the dream.
Maybe some good things are achieved by accident or by chance, but mostly I think it starts from a dream or an idea, which then leads us to take an action in the direction of that dream or goal.
And actually, I think of dreams and goals as different things. I just want to clarify that a dream to me is like a picture. It's the big picture of what I want and goals are the way to bring that dream to life.
That's why, if you listen to my episode on annual planning, that's why I set themes for the year instead of goals. My themes are my way of creating the dream of how I'd like my year to be, and then I set monthly and weekly goals in service of that dream. So I see goals as the way to get to the dream and to make it reality.
And again, I think it's important to start with the dream first because if you just set goals without getting clear on the dream first, it's like, what are you aiming for? Without a dream your goals might just be random, or they might be things you think you should be doing, and ideally you want your goals and your actions to be moving you in the direction you actually want to be going in, not just some random direction.
So this is my invitation to you to write your own “I have a dream” speech. What is your dream that is so beautiful and so exciting that you just can't help but be drawn to it? Write it down and make it real so that it can help guide you in the right direction and so that someday you can make it a reality.
And with that I'll say goodbye for now, until next week. Thank you for dreaming with me today.