Episode 036 - The Dreamless

This is InBrief. Let's get to it. Hey there, and welcome back to the InBrief podcast. This is Jordana. I'm the CEO of the Recon Network, and this podcast is dedicated to giving you just a few minutes to help reset your week. And hopefully give you something to help you in the next phase of your life. So today we're talking about not having a dream. So what if you don't have a dream? You know, it seems like we're supposed to have big dreams about everything. You hear people asking, what's your dream? What's your dream job? Your dream car? Your dream vacation? Like there's this grandiose imagining of a better life. And I would never try to argue that those people who do have big dreams are doing too much. Probably most infamous for his dream is Martin Luther King Jr., who imagined a better world than the one he was in. And there are a lot of people who do, and they are the ones that often go on to inspire others and lead big movements toward their dream. But again, what if you don't have a dream? What if there is no big plan in your mind and you're just moving forward with what you have To see where you end up. I often talk to veterans who are in this space. They don't have a big plan. They don't have a specific dream. Heck, they don't even know what they're going to do next. And when you're used to constantly being asked about a dream job or a big plan, it can really become discouraging. If you're one of the people who doesn't have the big picture in view, you can feel alienated, like you're the only one out there who's not going somewhere. But let me tell you, that's just not true. I personally don't have a big dream. When I was in high school, my dream was to go to New York, become a high-powered journalist, and stay single forever in a big penthouse. So of course, the way that life works out, I met the person I would marry at 17, got married 4 years later, had 3 kids, and I live in South Carolina. And I guess all of that upset broke my imagination because I haven't really had a big dream for anything else. As a result, though, I've always taken my biggest successes from things that I never expected that completely changed the trajectory of my life and took me to better places than I ever imagined I could go. Because here's the thing, sometimes short-term plans will get you farther than a big dream ever will. And there's a reason for that. When you're focused on short-term rather than big and monstrous, You're often able to make tangible progress faster. You have just as much capacity to build your network, to inspire others, and to lead movements. You're just not as sewn into the end result, which is powerful because life is weird. I've had opportunities fall into my lap because someone I met 15 years ago remembered me when they needed something specific. And because I wasn't tied into a long-term anything, I was more willing and more flexible to take those chances. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But I'll tell you one thing, life has never been boring. So if you sometimes feel like the loner because you're missing out on a dream, don't. Instead of worrying where you want to be in 20 years, answer, where do you want to be next year? And what can you do that will help you get there? Now, of course, if you're one of the dreamers, I hope you stuck around this long because this is just good advice in general. It can help you make progress toward that big dream when you're taking those smaller steps. But for my non-dreamers, you're not alone. Many of us see the world as too unpredictable or too full of opportunities to make a big commitment or have that big vision, and that's okay. It takes both types to make this planet work, and I promise you, big things can happen on either path, so long as you keep moving forward towards something and not standing still waiting for a dream to come to you.