The Ring - Part 1, Dream
As I turned 40, I thought I’d give myself a gift that would be meaningful for many years to come. Something like a college class ring. But, not having graduated from any ‘formal’ university, I didn’t have a class ring. Yet, considering I had a graduate degree from the school of hard knocks and experiences, I decided to design my own ring.
Along the sides of this ring, I inscribed 24 letters, each representing words that were important in my life and had inspired me over the years. Over the next four weeks, I’m going to describe to you 4 of the letters on my ring: DPAB, starting this week with D.
D stands for DREAM.
Growing up, I was a dreamer. I had dreamt of owning my own home that had air conditioning and to own a Mercedes Benz. Living on meager means, my parents couldn’t afford either. Another dream was of having enough money that I could keep a $100 bill in my pocket and not have to spend it on necessities. Just there if I wanted it.
I dreamt of making enough money to buy my mother nice presents and even a fancy car. And I dreamt that I would be able to go to the finest restaurants and buy nice clothes.
All of these dreams were pretty far out, as I grew up in a relatively poor family that only could afford, at best, the very basics.
From my teenage years through to my early business life, I had various well intentioned people criticize me for being a dreamer. What they didn’t realize was that I truly knew deep in my soul that my dreams would become a reality and that my life would be fulfilling, prosperous and joyful all at the same time.
At the beginning of my business career, I worked for my father-in-law. It was a good job and I learned a lot from him. I could have made a decent living working for him with a consistent salary.
But I dreamt of something more.
So I left the safety of my father-in-law’s employment and struck out on my own. People told me I was crazy. And when I opened up my own auto auction business in Albany, GA, people there told me that the auto auction business would not work in that part of Georgia. At this time in my life, there were plenty of naysayers.
But I kept focused on my dream.
If I would have played it safe, I’d have had a consistent but limited salary. But having my own business would mean that my income was limited only by my determination to fulfill my dreams.
And to make a very long story short, my business was successful. Because my determination was great, in my first year of living my dream, I earned three times more than I would have earned working for my father-in-law. And, by following my dream, my income increased exponentially after that!
I believe that everything that exists, was first someone’s dream. The plane I’m flying in as I write this, was someone’s dream. The computer I’m writing on and the internet that this message is transmitted over was also someone’s dream. They too had people that called them dreamers….like it’s a bad thing!
The most wonderful dream that has been manifested in my life was of having a wonderful daughter and wonderful son. I dreamt of them before they were ever born.
Imagine what can be if we will embrace our dreams. When we dream big, we have the potential to achieve great things!
Over the next three weeks, I will share how my dreams were manifested in my life.
But in the meantime, let me encourage you to DREAM! Never let anyone crush your dream or stop you from dreaming!
