Pursue Your Dreams

Dreams are golden. Time is the thief. Don't let the passage of time steal your dreams away from you. Your dreams are as unique to you as your thumb print. They contribute to the development of your personality and define in a significant way the quality of your life. Pursuing your dreams is part of your life mission.

Most of our dreams fall into three categories, Business, Family and Individual Dreams. Early in our childhood or adolescence we dream of becoming a doctor, teacher, nurse, policeman or whatever it is we dream to be. We get an education that leads us into the career we have chosen and we spend a lifetime developing and growing our business skills so we can become the success that we dreamed of becoming.

Somewhere along the way we dream of having a family. Many of us get married, have children and spend a good portion of our adult life helping our children acquire the education, values and skills that will help them lead happy and successful lives that we dream for them -- and we send them off with the wish that all of their dreams come true.

But somewhere along the way we set aside our Individual Dreams - hopefully out of a sense of priority and not out of a sense that they are less important than our Business and Family Dreams.

The fact is, the pursuit of our Individual Dreams is as important as our Business and Family Dreams because they define the quality of our lives. At the end of the road, more often than not, we regret what we didn't do, not what we did.

Recently, I was asked what I thought the most rewarding part of the circumnavigation would be. If I had been asked that question two days after leaving New Jersey on December 18, 2004, I would have said, completing the circumnavigation. Now, however, that wouldn't even be close to the top of the list, although it is important to complete -- and I will complete it. What will be at the top of the list will be the wonderful friends I have made in the countries and islands I have visited, the great times I have shared with my fellow yachtees who have become like brothers and sisters. It will be meeting Reverend Lawrence and Sue Bodley at Dillons Bay, Vanuatu or working to reduce the incidence of Anemia in Vanuatu. It will be the passages to the destination that will be the most rewarding - and not the destination itself.

So, don't abandon your Individual Dreams - those dreams that are specific to you, that rest in your heart, that you long to pursue. Take them out of the closet and start pursuing them. It may be the passage to the destination of your dream, not arriving at the destination that can be the most rewarding part of pursuing your dream. Here are seven steps for pursuing your Individual Dreams.

1. Write down your dream on a piece of paper just as you have always envisioned it and put it in a place where you can read it frequently.
2. Read books written by those who have pursued a similar dream. Seek out and talk with those who have pursued a dream similar to yours and ask them how they did it.
3. Develop a list of things you need to do to pursue your dream.
4. Develop a budget with all the costs you will incur in pursuit of your dream and develop a plan for financing the dream.
5. If you need assistance or want a companion, ask a friend if they would like to join you, or place an ad in a newspaper for a companion. There are a lot of people who have dreams and haven't a clue on how to pursue their dreams and would be delighted to live through and experience yours.
6. Establish a launch date for pursuing your dream.
7. Just do it.