Robin and I got into a "discussion" today about a blog I was considering writing.  "If you write that blog" he said, "you will be stealing people's dreams!"  Now, those of you that know me know that I would never write anything that would discourage anyone and what the blog would have been about (since I will probably still write it at some point) is not important.  It made me think about dream stealing.

I've been watching America's Got Talent.  The final show was last night and the five finalist performed.  What set these five apart from the thousands that tried out and the hundreds that performed once one simple thing.  They had a dream. Not just an ordinary dream, but a dream that was so strong nothing and no one could stop them.  There are two young men from the wrong side of town in New York that play violin like nothing you have ever seen.  Four singers.  One woman who wanted to sing all her life, but she got pregnant at a young age, then had two more children and those kids came first.  But for 25 years she held on to that dream and she was one of the finalist.  Another man who had been in a bicycle accident.  Doctors told him that he would never sing again.  Even worse, he was eliminated early on, but when one of the acts had to drop out due to an injury, America voted him back on and now he's in the finals!  Another singer that was raised by a single mom in a poor household.  His music teacher discovered him singing in the hall and encouraged him to join the choir.  His voice gives you goosebumps over the television--I can't even imagine what it is like in person.  And the final singer, who has been singing in night clubs or wherever he could get job.  Sleeping in his car--whatever it took.  Even if he doesn't win the competition, you can bet that producers are out there looking at him and that all that sacrifice is about to pay off.

My point is, if you have a dream and a vision that is as strong or stronger than these people, you have a gift.  I think very few people ever really totally surrender to their dream--even fewer can even figure out what their dream really is.  But those that do, reap unbelievable rewards when that dream comes true.  When the dream happens, all the pain, all the sacrifice, all the suffering goes away in an instant.  And when the dream comes true, they dream another one.  Find those people in your organization and spend as much time with them as you can.  Their attitude is contagious and you want to catch it.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."  I would change it to say "No one can steal your dream without your consent!"

Never be afraid of what you will lose and never be afraid to dream.

Thanks for reading!