It matters who you share your dreams, goals or aspirations with. This means you must be well prepared for truth or perspectives that will not necessarily match yours. As difficult as it may be, it also means you need to be an objective listener and not listening only for what you want to hear but what you need to hear. Sharing your dreams and goals is important to keep you accountable as you pursue them. It will also protect you from worthless pursuits and or false starts. The people you share your dreams with will determine:
- Pursuit: They will affect whether you pursue your dream or not. Some may validate it. Others will challenge and strongly recommend you don’t pursue it any further. I am not suggesting that you use this as a way to determine whether to “chase” or not… You need to have a balance in perspectives before you pursue anything and decide for yourself. Thus whoever you share your aspirations with, will encourage or discourage you, lead you to your demise or your blossoming.
- How: Whoever you share your aspirations with may, to a great extent, shape how you pursue them. With this in mind, do your best to find people that have a clue or have walked a similar journey. There is an African proverb: You ask for the way from those that are ahead. [almost literal translation, but you get the gist] In other words seek out those that have walked the road. If you cannot find someone to help you map the way forward, find someone that is willing to help you find it.
Therefore, carefully consider with whom and how to share your dreams and goals. Make sure you are clear on what they are. Be objective as you share and listen to other people. You cannot follow everyone’s counsel, but ensure that you have enlisted counsel with different views; either from different people or an individual that will fairly assess the pros and cons.
What are other things one must remember when sharing dreams or goals? Any other thoughts?