Mundane Dreams Equals a Mundane Life: Existing in the Matrix

I spent a good part of the 2022 winter break wandering around downtown Vancouver. And it was lovely. A short break in a ridiculously busy year of business and travel. Some valuable time to reflect and think. 

It’s great to be by oneself, eating lunch, having a coffee, reminiscing. But also really interesting listening to young and old people around me, talking to each other about their lives and dreams. But without judgment, their lives and hopes seem so plain & boring to me. Trying to get that job or promotion, getting good grades, trying to find a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse. Or the car or clothes they want to buy. It’s like they are literally programmed. I see people going through the motions with dead eyes. No real excitement or joy in their eyes. They are not really living, they are almost like Lichs or zombies. 

What happened to big dreams? Adventure, excitement, seeing the world, having a positive impact on others at scale. Building things, big beautiful and great things.

I recall an exercise I did at the World Domination Summit over a decade ago. The speaker asked when was the last time you thought anything was possible. When you dreamed about being an astronaut or explorer or something fantastical? 

Almost universally it was around age 10. And then it kind of disappeared because “school”: our education system and our families told us we had to grow up and be realistic. Our imaginations were literally drummed out of us. We were laughed at when we shared our big dreams. 

It took me leaving Canada, backpacking around Europe and then moving to two new countries (Taiwan and the USA), surrounding myself with books, new friends and a community of achievers to rediscover this. But I also admit I spent a lot of time flailing around as well. Yet I figured it out (mostly). Or at least directionally. 

And now my life is almost literally what I dreamed of growing up. I spend the year traveling the world speaking, advising and investing, going to countries most people have never even heard of. I get paid to travel. I also continue to learn new things. I work with smart, awesome people and go wherever I want, whenever I want. I can buy any book I want and eat fine or not fine, yet delicious foods. I am pinching myself as I write this. 

It goes as the old Napoleon Hill saying: “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”. In other words, dream big and literally work your ass off to make it real. It’s really possible. Dreams are the first step. (I should note, sadly, that many people get stuck in the dream phase and don’t do any of the hard work needed.)

Dream big, live big. Dream small, live small. It’s a lesson I’m trying to instill in my kid as well. And doubly important in this ever changing world we live in now: it’s full of promise and peril. Life is short so why not make it count for something, so dream big and take big swings in life.