Declare Dreams, Not Resolutions
Something finally shifted in me this year. Instead of making resolutions, I’m going to declare dreams. Resolutions served a purpose in the past. They reminded me of how I lived my life in the previous year, and what I could control by myself and for myself in the short-term. But before long, my resolutions faded and self-criticism and cynicism would take over, like the ghost of Christmas past.
On the other hand, dreams have buoyancy, voltage, and frequency. Dreams don’t care about your past mistakes or deficiencies. Instead, they are future-based and rooted in possibility and potentiality. While not all one’s dreams can or do come true, without dreams, would man have landed on the moon? Would our country have the civil human rights and liberties it has now? Would a telephone that functions as a camera, radio, personal assistant and 500 other things exist?
Having a dream not only requires the ability to listen to your heart, but the ability to imagine a future that could be different from your current reality. Too often, dreams lay dormant, collecting dust until that rare moment when a window or a door opens, allowing a gust of air in to disperse it. Moreover, dreams also lay dormant because they take an enormous amount of courage and humility to be declared.
In Jim Henson’s film, Muppet Movie, Kermit the Frog, dreamed of going to Hollywood and making a movie. Instead of limiting his belief that as a frog he only belonged in a swamp, he declared his dream to his friends around him. Despite not having a reliable car to drive to Hollywood, or getting abducted along the way, each time Kermit’s talked about his dream to others, he kept finding the answers and the means to move it forward.
Dreams are not just about one person’s determination and skills. Kermit surrounded himself with the right people - others who also had dreams to believe in. In the end, Kermit produces and directs a movie starring of all things, a pig, dog, bear, and whatever type of thing Gonzo was. In the same way, I’m fortunate to have a similar audience by joining a community of collective dreamers called the Design Dream Lab. The Design Dream Lab brings together vibrant individuals across various industries who appreciate empathy and connectedness, who value the process of design thinking, and most importantly, who dream of working on meaningful challenges for social good.
Like the Muppets, each month when the Dreamers (aka the cat, the camel, the lioness, the dolphin, the elephant, and the hedgehog, to name a few) come together, they bring ideas and energy to support new products and new projects to serve the communities around them. By collectively awakening and sharing their dormant dreams, magic happens!
