How To Make Your Dreams Relevant Again
Other people’s lives and stories. When you think about the time we spend on analyzing other people’s lives it’s no wonder we feel helpless in our own lives. It’s incredible to think that while you are listening to someone else’s interpretation of the world you may be relinquishing your own.
I also listen to other people’s podcasts. I binged on Cobra Kai. It’s not like I’m any different than anyone else when it comes to checking out Home Edit either. However, what I have found, is that when I watch those shows my life tends to fall short or not change. I may feel compelled to clean out a kitchen draw but the buck stops there. So here’s how I have come to realize that it’s my story that needs my attention more than anyone else’s story. I’ve also come to learn that it is my dream that needs to become relevant again to me not anyone else. After reading these reasons you too may wish to reelect yourself as your worthy object of attention and rumination.
- We vote on what’s relevant to us every time we pick up a TV remote. After binge-watching Cobra Kai, I didn’t get a black belt in any karate method. Instead, I felt bad. I felt like I just wasted my time watching someone else live their life and fulfill their dream. The actors figured out a way to become relevant in Hollywood again — and by watching their show I agreed that they were relevant again. I made them relevant for an entire weekend. It’s as if I brushed aside my dreams for 48-hours. See, there is a little lie we tell ourselves when we have no time but then get swept away for days by a TV show. We do have time. We just mismanage our time. I’ve interviewed several business owners who haven’t used that excuse. Each including Caitlyn from Cait’s Plate and Jessica a yarn shop owner in Scotland both point to being intentional about their time. Imagine you swap that TV time for dream time? It may sound lofty but that’s exactly what those TV characters had to do to be so good to become relevant again in their field.
- We get to proactively vote on what’s relevant to us. We’re no longer in grade school. We don’t have to raise our hands to go to the bathroom. You can vote on anything you wish to make relevant in your life again. I’ve always found it so interesting when I’ve seen roving reporters on location announcing something fun. Am I a reporter? Have I suddenly been hired by NBC to go on location? Nope. I just voted, after all of this COVID isolation, to get out of my house every week to announce my podcast guest of the week. You can check me out on Thursdays via IGTV. What does this do for me? It aligns my need for variety with my love of being on video and creating content. The reality is that no one out there is going to tell me to do these videos. Could there be something that you’d love to do that you could vote yourself into doing? It’s time we all write our own hall passes. Cast your vote for what you’d like to make relevant again.
- We may need to be our own campaign manager to sway votes in our favor. Do you know how much detail goes into a good marketing campaign? A lot goes into figuring out how to grab your attention and wallet. I also have to believe that a political campaign requires even more pre-decisions and mission-control moments. People have teams picking slogans. Some people have teams picking names to call others. There are a lot of people planning campaigns out there. The odds are not in your favor. Your dream does not have a shot at being and staying relevant if you do have a smart campaign yourself. The odds are that you will be swept away by someone else’s campaign. How about this: do you have a life campaign? What is your mission? What’s your North Star and how do you intend to manage it? You are as important as anyone else to necessitate a little life campaign management too. Yet, so few people think about their life’s mission as a campaign of sorts. The risk of not being your own life campaign manager is that you will continue to be swept away by the efforts of someone else’s campaign. Exhibit: Netflix’s Home Edit. Their marketing campaign was so good that I’m some episodes into this series.
Ultimately, you need to know what your dream is in order to know what exactly you are making relevant again. So what is your dream? Tonight, when you sit on that couch and have the power to decide on what’s relevant or not, I invite you to consider making your dream relevant. Time spent on defining your dream is well-spent. You won’t come out of that exercise feeling like you are falling short or helpless. That would be impossible. You’ll be actively making your dream relevant again and thereby voting for your fulfillment and joy. How could that ever be an uncounted vote?
Check out my podcast, I’ve interviewed several guests who have decided to make their passions relevant and they are outstandingly varied and courageous.
