Do you dream about the future?
This morning I was fortunate to talk to one of my former employees who is retiring today. He has been in his role for decades and is an incredible subject matter expert. He is the go-to person for questions about systems, products, and processes. He takes so much pride in his job and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to work with him.
When I was his manager our career planning discussions were about retirement. He would say “Al, I’m happy where I am. My next role is going to be retirement.” I would ask him what he was looking forward to and what his dreams were for that time.
Everything we have created has started with an idea, a dream.
Do you dream?
Do you even allow yourself to want?
Do you think about the future?
Do you plan what you want to create?
Many of my clients are busy and feel like they are on a hamster wheel, reacting to each day and everything going on. Many have not allowed themselves to dream in quite some time. Some have even forgotten how.
As kids, dreaming was a natural thing. But as adults, sometimes dreaming can bring up pain. If you have only dreamed when something was going wrong or you didn’t have enough of something, dreaming could have become something that’s not enjoyable.
If you have this pattern and/or you haven’t practiced dreaming in quite some time, here’s an exercise that can open you to dreaming again.
Make a list of 25 things you really want. They can be materialistic, theoretical, tangible, intangible, it doesn't matter. Now is not the time to constrain yourself.
Then write another list of 25 things you want and already have.
Now combine the lists and alternate between them.
Read the newly combined list and describe each item in detail.
Finally, spend some time reflecting. Everything that you listed of the 25 things that you want and already have were once just dreams and you created them in your life.
I believe that my former employee is going to thrive in retirement because I’ve witnessed him dreaming and planning. I hope he enjoys retirement as he transitions to his other job as a full-time farmer.
P.S.
As a manager, I would sometimes forget to enjoy the everyday relationships with each team member. That time with each of them could be short- only months or years. When I was bogged down in the day-to-day or feeling overwhelmed, it was easy to forget this.
I hear daily from people who are feeling lonely and looking for connection. Who is a former peer or employee that you haven’t talked to in a while? Send them a quick note saying hi.
