You’ve heard all the productivity advice; plan your day, work your plan, block time, get things done, hack life with zen habits, first things first, etc.
But how about doing nothing?
…Or dreaming?
…Or sitting and reflecting?
Dreamers vs. Doers And Productivity
Doers are the productive ones. Dreamers never accomplish anything.
That’s the myth.
But a closer look reveals a different truth…
Consider: It is from dreams that the most productive enterprises and activities in life emerge.
Henry Ford had a dream…To make the automobile inexpensive enough that everyone could afford one.
Entrepreneurs have dreams…They are driving or taking a shower and letting their mind wander and suddenly they have an idea that employs thousands of employees for decades.
Here’s an amazing fact…
While all the planners and doers are running around getting things done, the dreamers are changing what gets done.
Walt Disney was a dreamer
Steve Jobs certainly dreamed
Henry Ford dreamed a different world into existence
Martin Luther King had a dream
JFK dreamed of putting a man on the moon
(Read more about famous vision statements here)
Dreams are dangerous
They alter the future.
If you are a doer, I respect you.
But if you are a dreamer, I’m scared of you. Because if you add a little “do” to those dreams, you will change my future.
A Dream Dare
I dare you to spend 30 minutes reflecting and dreaming.
Take a walk. Just you. Go sit on a bench in a park. Better, climb a tree and sit in the branches. Go to the beach and just sit, alone, you and your thoughts.
Begin to reflect. Be quiet. Listen to your thoughts. What issues and troubles bubble up? What dreams and hopes about the future rise above the noise?
Turn those thoughts in your mind like a diamond to the light. Let it speak to you. Begin imagining a better way. A different way ahead. Does your true love flame? Is it what you are doing now?
The pounding surf and roaring waves of daily life get our attention. But in the quiet of the tide pools — if we are very still — we begin seeing things move beneath the surface. Our skittish dreams emerge from the shadows.
Only when these dreams are seen can we be truly productive doers.
