To Dream the Impossible Dream with Sancho Panzo on the Team and Fighting the Unbeatable Foe

My best friend requested this post. I admit to being both pleased to write this, and intimidated. Likely one of my greatest shortcomings has been that my dreams and hopes all too often just don’t fit with people’s ideas of reality. As a child I was both praised and scorned for having a vivid imagination. But imagination alone, while IMHO it is a gift and source of great joy, can’t accomplish much. You have to have certain skills to even begin to make a dream a reality. And since you don’t have all the skills you often need other people to accomplish very much in life. Somehow, I could paint a picture that people loved with my words, but I was never inspiring enough to get people to act. I failed to convince Dad to stop drinking (though he did do that a year after I ran away from home). I failed to convince my school board to keep the Jet-Nash school independent from consolidating with a school that I felt didn’t share our standards of excellence and valuing education over football. As I grew up, I have attempted fewer and fewer efforts to inspire people to improve the world. But suffice it to say, I’m batting a 1000 as a failure when it comes to true inspiration. Oh, I’ve learned some of the highlights of sales. I can convince a store manager that a profitable product will do well on their shelves. But to actually make the changes to make the world a better place? I’ve not learned that yet.

But then again, I suppose I never will learn the skill if I don’t keep trying.

Rather than just pontificate about the topic, I will share my research on the topic.

https://remedygrove.com/wellness/the-importance-of-dreams-and-goals#:~:text=4%20Reasons%20It%20Is%20Important%20to%20Have%20Goals,and%20Dreams%20of%20All%20Sizes%20Inspire%20Us%20

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8710311/#:~:text=King%27s%20conceptual%20system%20may%20be%20used%20to%20build,theories%20such%20as%20the%20theory%20of%20goal%20attainment.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/purpose-dreams-and-goals_b_5337787

https://ideas.ted.com/the-science-of-setting-goals/

The first few years after I left my ex-wife, I attempted to share a part of my new won freedom with my friends. I was soaking in self-help books, articles, and videos. I haven’t stopped even today, though I’ve steadied myself as far as buying more books and quit sharing so many videos. One of my best and wisest friends was talking with me, and likely I was being insufferable, because he asked me “What is the goal of goals”? It is a fair question. The short, Tired Blogger answer is that a rudderless ship will likely sink on rocks or run aground. But let’s see if these experts have something to add.

Remedygrove.com shares four reasons why goals are important.

1. Dreams bring zest and enthusiasm.
2. A dream deferred makes the heart sick.
3. Dreams lead to optimism.
4. Dreams and goals inspire us.

Essentially, happy people strive for goals, unhappy people just allow life to destroy them. I am myself prone to depression, so don’t think I’m being as vapid as a lot of your PMA types. It doesn’t mean you are good or bad, but there is a correlation (if not a causation) between happiness and having goals in your life.

Sheldon D. Newton, contributor to the Huffington Post, has this advice to give on plans and goals that I think is salient.

“Ensure that you know what you want out of life. What do you want to do? What do you want to attain? What do you desire to experience and enjoy in life? What is your God-given dream? What vision stirs within your spirit consistently, and you dream about all the time? Is it wholesome, descent, godly and possible? Then begin making plans to be that, do that, have that. And begin making those plans now. Refuse to procrastinate. Begin right away.”

He continues with “Ensure that your plans are not beyond your reach to begin to implement right away. In other words, make your plans doable. Set them in such a way that you can start putting your plan into action right away. There is a reason for this: When plans are made in such a manner that they over-whelm you, your energy gets drain just thinking about them. You will find yourself wanting to avoid beginning at all costs and with a whole lot of excuses. Making the plans workable from the get-go ensures that you stay pumped up and ready for action.

“Write your plans down. This is such an important point. Even the Sacred Scriptures admonished a prophet of God to, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it.” (Habakkuk 2:2, The Holy Bible) Writing your plans will help to ensure that you remain focus upon your goals. What you write, you can remember, because you can always go back and look it at. Focused people reach their goals, because they refuse to be distracted. They keep their plans before them, day and night.”

Ideas.ted.com has this to say: “

Our brains are wired to love rewards, so we often set simple goals that make it easy to check off boxes. Did you go to the gym today? Check. Did you write in your journal? Check. “It feels really good to set a goal,” says McGonigal. “People often set them just for the burst of optimism they get when they vow to make a change.” But if that’s all our New Year’s resolutions are about, no wonder we end up abandoning them so quickly.A meaningful goal — one that truly inspires you to change — requires going deeper. “Give yourself permission and time to think about what it is you want to experience in your life or what’s getting in the way,” says McGonigal. Think about what you want in the coming year, then ask yourself why you want that — three times in a row. For example, if you want to quit smoking, ask why do you want to quit? Then, if you want to quit for your health, ask why do you want good health? Then, if your answer is to be alive long enough to meet your grandchildren, ask why do you want to meet your grandchildren? “You get to something that just feels so obviously important to you,” says McGonigal. It really drives home why that goal matters, and that motivation can bolster you as you work toward the goal.”

They also advise focusing on what you want to attain instead of what you want to avoid, to focus on the process whereby you attain the goal (planning, dividing the goal up into smaller tasks, etc), and to look for holes in your plan. It isn’t that you focus on how bad your plan is, but what might trip you up? What are the obstacles to avoid?

So then, what is the dream for this blog? My vision is to write inspiring, informative pieces that are impactful on my readers. My vision is to have people read my blogs and fall in love with me, with themselves, with their country. I envision having tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of followers (in time). I envision being able to make a living doing this, or at least substantially supplementing my income. I envision a community online of people changing the world, like the committees of correspondence changed the American Colonies into one of the world’s great Republics. I envision a community large enough, intelligent enough, and virtuous enough to either turn the fall of the West around, or if that is not possible, to rebuild a wiser and more benevolent Republic. I envision becoming a better person, someone who has mastered the ability to achieve goals but yet stay positive. A man who knows why he is here. Who spends his time, money, and energy wisely. I envision writing the books I dreamed of writing, building the businesses I dreamed of building. And yes, I dare to hope that in some way, I may yet have a family (though I’ll admit, I have no idea how that could happen).

Plans and goals to achieve this? Right now, I intend to publish three written blog posts every week (so feel free and comment if I fail on that). Second, I intend to start or restart a YouTube channel to do book reviews, or to discuss anything my readers would enjoy me talking about. Last of all, I intend to build this into an actual, professional website. I intend to figure out how to make an actual menu so people can find this more easily. I intend at some point to monetize, though I’ll be honest, I have only vague idea of how to do that.

I know that likely, most of the things I envision may never come to fruition. It would be so simple, so easy to give up. Get fat. Hate women for not wanting me. Run off all my friends with a negative attitude. Stop writing, start reading b rate escapist fiction. To quote George Michael though…”Maybe…just one more try.” Or, to quote Cyrano when he is asked if he has read Don Quixote:

“Cyrano de Bergerac: I have, and found myself the hero. Antoine Comte de Guiche: Be so good as to read once more the chapter of the windmills… Windmills, remember, if you fight with them… Cyrano de Bergerac: My enemies change, then, with every wind? Antoine Comte de Guiche: No, they may swing round their huge arms and cast you down into the mire! Cyrano: Or cast you up into the stars!”

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