In the World

In a previous column I wrote about how I’ve been lately inspired—okay, pushed—into looking at just what my dreams and aspirations are.

I’ve taken this seriously.

I have read books; made lists; written a journal; and spent many, many hours just thinking about what this means to me. And I think I’m finally starting to get a picture.

Yesterday I flew to Red Deer, Canada, to teach a seminar on Spirit-led writing with my father. The week before, I had borrowed John Maxwell’s Put Your Dream to the Test from Nathan. A day of flights and airports seemed to me a perfect opportunity to sit down read it.

I’m not sure I can recommend this book highly enough. For me, it ranks right up with 9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back, The Storehouse Principle, and Who Moved My Cheese?.

Now, I read the book in a way it’s not supposed to be read: I read the first half of the book in one sitting. You really should read this book one chapter at a time, and stew on each chapter, and take action on it, and really let it sink in,

At first, I had trouble just making it through the Introduction. Not because it was boring, mind you, but because it was so inspiring. I had to hold myself back from just putting the book down and jumping into my dreams and visions of what I wanted to accomplish. But discipline is one of my many foibles, so I resisted the urge to jump and kept on reading.

And again, I can’t recommend this book enough. If you have a dream, or you want a dream, or you think you have a dream, or you think you want to have a dream, or if at some point in your life you think you might want to accomplish more than what you have become, you owe it to yourself to read Put Your Dream to the Test.

Throughout this book, there is a common thread that can best be summed up by James Earl Jones’ Mufasa in The Lion King, speaking to his son, Simba: “You are more than you have become.”

It took me until the end of chapter 3 to realize why I was having so much trouble putting a finger on what I want to accomplish. And it wasn’t so much something that was in the book, but a realization that my entire method of discovery was part of my problem.

And that is where I’m going to stop for now.

I know, I know. By now you want me to talk about my dreams. That’s for another column. I have to sort some things out first. But I’ve gotten it now, and I know what I need to do, if not necessarily how to do it. The how can come later. I’m just thrilled to have the what.