He said this without thinking. He simply blurted it out for the entire team to hear and for me to answer. His eyes looked at mine and demanded an answer. Instead, I asked him a question. Then I asked the team the same question. The room fell silent as lots of “realistic” people began to churn on where all the dreamers had disappeared to…and why?
Most of us STOP dreaming somewhere in high school. We learn that dreaming is for artists and we’re told that most of them are starving. We make a decision to “make a living.” We follow the crowd that majors in Business Systems and then get our M.B.A. Many head to law school to further their “personal brand,” not because they have developed a LOVE for the law. The slippery slope toward mediocrity is underway. Next, we start to make some money. And then, MORE money. We become partner in one of the most prestigious firms in our town, as one of my clients once told me. And Chet, “You don’t know what it’s like to be in my position and no longer even like the law. But what can I do. This is all I know.”
Here’s the answer. We love answers don’t we. We want some expert to just point us the way and away we’ll go.
The answer is that we ALL have choices in this great country of ours. Start making some better ones. We are all FREE and that is the first requirement for dreamers. Not many people living under a dictator are dreamers. Oh, btw, if you try to tell me that you are working for one do NOT waste your breath. You are choosing to take his money. You are always FREE to leave. FEAR is the normal thing stopping you and me. Sooo the first piece to this dreaming puzzle is that for one to dream one has to FEEL freedom. Got it.
The second one is easy. Act like a child again. FEEL what gives you energy and experiment. What I’ve found with many of my clients is that this playing involves them discovering their ART. You do NOT, as so many seem to fear, need to quit your hell job first. In some of your “free” time use it to play around. Go outside for a walk. Head to the park. Pick up a guitar, tickle some ivories, paint a picture, build something from scraps or here’s a good one, just play with your kids. Give this a try and see what happens.
Try being “unproductive” without having the TV on.
Dreams come to free people.
Dreams come to playful people.
Dreams come to people when they are being unproductive.
Dreams come when people are anywhere but at WORK.
BTL dreamers are also BTL doers. We dream and do.
How ’bout you?
BUILT TO LEAD 
Even though it’s a blizzard outside and I can’t see across the street, I’m taking another big step today to get in touch with my dreams and my heart. I was an english major before i was an MBA. Today I’m WRITING again, and my heart is rushing like a dam being unplugged!
I was at this workshop helping you Chet, and I believe what you’re saying here. I couldn’t agree more! Most of us DO stop dreaming when we’re young.
Why are most of us sleepwalking through life? In fact we’re not just asleep, we’re DEAD! As Howard Hendricks puts it “most men die at 25 and are buried at 80.”
You gave the team another clue to the answer. There is a little voice in our heads that’s our own worst enemy. It’s an uninvited guest. It’s a ghost from the past– “you should. . .you shouldn’t. . .that’s not practical. . .play it safe. . .by the time you’re 30/40/50/60 you need to be. . .”
That little voice is a risk-killer. A joy-killer. “You can’t do THAT!”. When you said “it makes all the sense of a flaming drunk” everybody laughed and then hid the tears as the truth settled in.
How can you learn to dream again? Exorcise your ghost! Throw the flaming drunk out into the street! That’s not who you are.
Stop listening to your head, start listening to your HEART. It has another voice, the voice of you really are that God designed when he made you, that yearns to wake up. And play. and LIVE. As Bono of U2 says in the song “Walk On” — leave it BEHIND. Leave it ALL behind! Go read Matthew 11:28 and take the load off God says you were never designed to carry. Is it scary to look so hard inside because you find yourself alone? If you haven’t already done so, ask God into your life to lead you. Why? Because he specializes in waking up dead people! And he’ll put your heart back together. And transform you by the renewing of your mind. And help you find your voice, so you can TALK BACK to your
self and ask “What’s my target?” each day.
Chet helped me do this 18 years ago when i was dead, scared, alone, and afraid. My story is in the 12 essentials under “wisdom”. I’ve been dreaming and doing ever since, in fits & starts. Falling down, getting up. Growing. Living. Daring to become the opus God says that i am. Learning to become the artist of the masterpiece he’s created me to draw each day. Check it out for yourself in Ephesians 2:8-10.
Do you know what you BELIEVE? Have you done the REAL, HARD, WORK to discover and build your CORE? Write it out, and re-write it again util you BELIEVE it. From the heart. That’s where you’ll re-discover your dreams.
Thank you God! And thank you Chet.
Johnny,
My heart is soaring from your WRITING. What pure JOY does God have for our team of builders and our client teams? How many dead people are waking up this morning ready to leave it behind?
Thanks for your belief in BTL my friend. This ride, albeit taken in fits and starts, will be the time of our life. What a funny saying…
Great WRITING Johnny…