There’s a tagline spread around by one of the presidential candidates, “If you can dream it, you should be able to build it”. This is a loser’s mentality. Why is that you ask?

One of my earlier articles was “Imagine it. Build It!”. I was very specific when I chose to say “Imagine” versus “Dream”.  There is a wide gulf between a person who can IMAGINE something  and a person who just DREAMS about it.

When you IMAGINE a goal your brain CREATES and PLANS an IDEA.  IMAGINE something and you are taking positive steps towards your goal.  A dream is the brain firing synapses without a specific purpose, direction, or end goal.  Dreaming about something can be pleasing and relaxing but it doesn’t accomplish much.

Okay, you may say this is just semantics, but words have meanings and they affect your thought process which ultimately controls your actions.  In future post I’ll explain why this is.

Ask any athlete and they will tell you they use IMAGERY and VISUALIZATION in their brain which enables them to see how they will score the point, make the play, break the record. I used to road race motorcycles many years ago. One of things that I did was called a “track walk”. I would walk the course and I would VISUALIZE and IMAGINE how I would approach a turn, how much speed I would carry through a turn, where are my braking points, where to apex the turn, how I would link up a “line” through several turns, where I would pass other riders.  I would take notes and draw pictures to allow me to create and replay a plan in my head.  During the race I already knew how I was going to run the track.  I didn’t just DREAM about taking the checked flag. The images were very specific about how I was going to accomplish my goal.  Ask a chess player if they can see what moves their opponent will make.  They imagine the board in their brains and calculate what are the most likely moves to come.  This ability to IMAGINE and execute action applies to all walks of life.

The ability to IMAGINE a product, business, or goal is also a key part of LEADERSHIP.  No matter if you are an employee, a small businessman, the CEO of a corporation, or the leader of a country, the first priority of a leader is to have an IMAGE of what to accomplish and then have the ability to convey that vision to others.  LEADERSHIP is a topic for another day.

Don’t “Dream it”.  IMAGINE IT!