I Read the statement above from a post on Facebook and took some time to ponder on the issue of dreaming and actualizing dreams.
Dreaming in itself is involuntary, an action that takes place in the subconscious; fed by human desires and intrinsic needs. Yes, everyone wants something, though we all have different levels of effort that we put in to get what we really want. Which brings us to the focal point of this piece: How much effort we are willing to give to get what we want.
Humans dream about many things. It could be to get the idle partner, the white collar job with a good pay package, dream house, to achieve academic excellence, business success etc. And trust me all of these can be achieved in record time. The point is certain steps must be taken if one hopes to achieve their goals, no matter how many or how massive they might seem to be. The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. So, you want to attain a University degree and you are still a high school certificate holder, have you taken the necessary steps needed to be admitted to a university? What are the requirements in your country for a person to be admitted into a university? Do you need to sit for an aptitude test or entrance examination? Have you purchased and filled the necessary forms? Have you read for the examination? Are you positive that you would pass, or do you see yourself as a dullard who would never do well? Bear it in mind that if you want to fail you can tell yourself that you will fail and kapish! You are on a losing streak.
For the youth in Nigeria who has graduated from college and hasn’t secured a job: Do you sit at home daydreaming about a job in an oil firm or a bank? I hate to break this to you, but I must. There is no job for you! Infuriated at me? Sorry about that, I can’t help how you feel about me for being blunt to you, but it is for your own good. I will tell you why I said there is no job for you. You see, three times every year in Nigeria over 100,000 youths pass out of the NYSC scheme, and are introduced into the already over-populated labor market to further swell the number of job seekers. And, when firms put up adverts calling for applications, they advertise for limited number of positions, sometimes just two or three slots, which thousands of candidates apply for, and which given the trend of the times, some top executive might have allocated to relatives or friends. Now, what is the guarantee that you will get the job while sitting at home and dreaming?
My advice to you is not to stop dreaming, but to dream and work towards bringing your dreams to fruition. David trusted that God would, and prayed that he should help him defeat Goliath, but he still went ahead to pick up the stones that he would later use to bring his giant opponent down. He worked in line with his desire.
Do you have business goals? Have you done the necessary research and feasibility study? Have you reached out to people who have greater knowledge on the particular field? Have you considered ways of accessing capital to prosecute your business? These are necessary steps towards achieving that which you seek.
Dreams are sweet only if you see them through in the real world. I believe in only the dreams that I can work at achieving. It is useless if it can only appear in my head. Yes, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” and WORK hard to it ACTUALIZE it, because the beauty of a dream is in its PRACTICALITY. So, dare to dream? Go ahead and dream, but WORK it out.