From dreaming to achieving
I thoroughly enjoyed reading a blog post by Katie Portman last week on the good, bad and ugly of entering your thirties.
It reminded me of a conversation I had recently with another friend of mine, Ryan Offutt, who has just turned thirty. He was hoping that it would now mean that everyone would take him seriously. I said, 'good luck with that'.
After the joking we did move onto a more serious conversation about turning thirty and I shared some of my thoughts from the perspective of someone who is two years in.
I ended up saying that I felt that in your twenties you are free to dream without any real pressure to achieve. That all changes when you're thirty. It's ok to be a twenty-something and have achieved nothing of real significance, but the same no longer holds true when you enter your thirties.
You have to have more than just dreams by the time you reach your thirties. You have to actually be doing something.
And I feel very comfortable with this shift. All the way through my twenties I would talk about how I never wanted to become someone who just settled. I didn't want to settle for a safe, mundane life. Marriage, family, good job and a nice house are decent enough goals to have but, for me at least, they are not nearly enough. I want my life to make a difference in the world.
Going through my twenties I saw far too many people slowly drift away from their dreams as they got older and settle for the easier, safer options in life. Most people would say that they want their life to be an adventure, but it is impossible to have a true adventure unless there is risk involved. Risk and adventure go hand in hand.
I guess ultimately, I have reached a point in life where I want to keep dreaming (we should never stop dreaming till the day we die) but I want to be consistently taking deliberate steps that are ensuring that at least some of those dreams are become a reality. I want to be a dreamer AND an achiever.
- When was the last time you took a significant risk?
- Are you still dreaming ambitious dreams?
- What impact do you want to have on the world?
- Are there areas of your life where you have settled and played it safe?
Comments (2)
I'm way past my thirties, but haven't stopped dreaming. On top of that, I'm working away to make it happen.
Really appreciate all the good stuff you contribute to that particular journey!
J
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