What should you do with an impossible dream?
A while back I spoke to about six hundred middle school kids—at an all-school assembly at the end of the day on Friday. Not sure if that’s brave or crazy.
The kids were great. I encouraged them to dream big dreams and believe they can accomplish remarkable things. They listened and responded. Then we had a few moments for Q&A.
Open-ended Q&A with middle school kids is always an adventure. On Friday afternoon …?
They asked some pretty safe, predictable, polite questions. They one boy stood and boldly asked, “Would you encourage me to try to learn how to fly? No plane or anything, just flying on my own?”
I worked with middle school students for a long time. They can’t surprise or shock me—this kid was just doing his job, being an eighth grader, asking an off-the-wall question to see how the old guy would respond.
I let him know I recognized the nature of his request and we joked back and forth a bit, and then it was time to go. But I thought about his apparently silly challenge and realized that perhaps it wasn’t quite so silly.
It wasn’t silly because any dream worth the label seems off-the-wall to lots of folks. People who always color inside the lines, play it safe, never attempt anything without assured success—those folks always look at dreamers as eccentric at best, insane at worst. Society doesn’t have a place for big dreams.
But that’s exactly why I was there. I wanted them to think about “impossible” challenges. That young man’s question actually presented a great opening, an opportunity I missed. There was a better response.
I wish I’d responded with…
“Well, that depends. I think any dream is worth following. I’d encourage you to go for it, as long as you’re willing:
- To pursue that dream no matter where it takes you.
- To plan and prepare, learn what you need to learn, read everything you can find, and ask others for help.
- To risk the ridicule of people who think you’re crazy, ‘experts’ who tell you you’re wasting your time, and friends who might reject you because you’re the nut-job who thinks he can fly.
- To have courage, to do what’s required in spite of your fears.
- To work and sacrifice and try again when you’ve already tried everything.
- To face the possibility of failure.
- To ignore that inner voice telling you that you’ll never make it.
“If you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make your dream happen, then I’d absolutely encourage you to go after it.”
That’s what I believe.
That’s what I wish I’d said.
What would you add?
This post originally appeared at BOUNCING BACK. If you didn’t know about my other blog I encourage you to jump over and check it out.
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