You Might Be Delusional, Here’s How
Have you ever heard “if you can believe than you can achieve?”How about “if you can dream it you can do it?”In these cases, belief is actually just a combination of trust and visibility.
Let me explain:
Trust is the reputation you have with yourself for executing things.If you have executed, followed through, and challenged yourself in the past you will trust yourself to do so in the future.Visibility is what you can see about the work to be done ahead.Even if you can’t see the ending, have you done something similar or even just not seen the ending before?How clearly can you define your dream?Example: “disrupt the real estate industry” isn’t clear enough.If you don’t know where you want to go, there’s no way to know when you’ve arrivedBasically . . .
It helps if you know what to do and how to do it.
But even more important is the relationship you have with your own execution and whether or not you trust yourself to follow through or figure out the unknown.
Unbounded belief is delusion.
Delusion is when you believe and believe, with abandon, no matter what the world around them is telling them.So, believing in yourself means having the data log of many, smaller decisions and actions that prove that you are capable of bigger ones.Delusion is when you have no behavioral evidence but believing anyway.See the difference?
2 Minute Action
Do you trust your ability to execute?If so, great! Can you name some projects that would prove this?Having the data in hand will drive up your confidence, today.If you don’t trust yourself, take this time to break your most essential project down into a few chunks you can accomplish this week and ask a good friend of yours to hold you accountable. You’ll need to know a bit about what the final product looks like if you’re going to break it down, too.Example:I have a friend who wrote a check for $1000 and said: “cash this check if I don’t stick to my plan.”People who excel set up their environments to give them the best chance of success.
The Practical Reason To Stop Planning and Dreaming
The life plan. Lots of people make them or at least, dream of them. Dreaming is fun, because you get to taste what things could be like. The only catch is when you snap back to “reality” and continue to grind the same grind.
Dreaming is fun but without action: it’s just indulgence.
And to be clear, dreaming is not planning. And to be clear, planning is not taking action. Dreaming is only useful if it inspires you to act. Planning is only useful if it helps you discover concrete actions that you can take right now. Creating the timeline for how your life will go isn’t helpful, it’s vain and imaginary. Backing into a list of specific behaviors, habits, and skills you’ll need to actualize those dreams and plans is the key.
2 Minute Action
When was the last time you had a vision for the future?If you’re a planner, what was the last benchmark or milestone you scheduled?Here’s your chance to bring in an accountabilibuddy, throw away all the junk food in your pantry, or setup an automatic savings plan with your bank. In 2 minutes you can take the first action.
Stop Telling People To Dream Big
How many times have you heard “feel good” quotes and sayings about dreaming big?It feels helpful, but is it?For a small percentage of people, it might help.For MOST people, it adds no value or hurts.Most people don’t know what to do with their regular sized dreams. It’s incapacitating to dream any bigger.Mans what about all those people without any dreams at all??
No one has taught you to take action on the basics.
School didn’t teach you to manage expectations, convince your boss that your idea was actually their idea, or handle difficult personalities without losing enthusiasm.School didn’t teach you to prioritize, sacrifice, or know when to put yourself first instead of others or vice versa.Until we fix the education system, it’s up to you.
It’s up to you to break big scary dreams down into smaller pieces.
So instead of blindly advising to expand people’s visions, let’s get some clarity on what’s already in front of us.
2 Minute Action:
What’s something small you’ve been meaning to finish?Could you start right now? What part of this could you finish today? In 7 days? In 30 days?
Who could help hold you accountable?
Text them right now and let them know your plan.Ask them the favor of checking in with you weekly.Write them a check for $100 and let them cash it if you fall back on your commitment.Buy them tickets to the Drake concert if you don’t finish in time.You have everything you need to trick yourself into making things happen.