Dreaming Big, Creating Value In Our Minds Within Our Varied Contexts.
(This is part of a series of publications that will be published on this site from the Fire Sight Chat. The Fire Sight Chat is a weekly series of discussions held in Nairobi city, Kenya by Lewis Munene, Robert Agolla, a few guest appearances and I. It is open to new guys who are ready to discuss serious issues spurring technology, agriculture, energy, education, engineering, law, Entrepreneurship, Society and culture among others. Get in touch with me on ndegegeoffrey@gmail.com to be added to our groups.)
A dream is basically an imaginary event(s) seen in the mind while sleeping. A dream can also be a hope and wish or even a visionary scheme by a person mostly yet to be. Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the 20th century said that imagination is greater than knowledge; knowledge will take you from point A to B but imagination will take you everywhere. To dream then is to imagine. Dreamers are the greatest achievers of all time because these are the people who see beyond what the common man can see.
In the discussion, we explored what it means to dream big. What are our dreams anyway? Are they big enough? I have come to realize over the ages that we are the ones who limit our capacity and scope to dream big by going for the small dreams. The dreamers question the status quo, they go against the set out standards and they live the future today.
Taking a look at history, it serves us right to consider where the great revolution began. The America we see today began with the big dreams of the 19th century entrepreneurs like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, J p Morgan, Tom Scott. Then there were the great scientists like Thomas Edison and Nicholas Tesla. By the turn of the Century, The wright Brothers revolutionized the way we travel at almost the same time when Henry Ford was reinventing the automobile industry. Shimon Peres and Schimmer were also building Israel in the mid-20th century by thinking big when everybody else was thinking otherwise. They helped develop the airline manufacturing industry in Israel. Leonardo Da Vinci dreamed of today in the 15th century by his early sketches of the modern fighter tanks, the aeroplane, the architecture of modern cities, art (like the painting of the Mona Lisa) and many others.
Dreams are not limited to products only. One of the greatest Statesmen of all time, Abraham Lincoln made it possible to live his dream of granting the immigrants voting rights in the 19th century. Others like Winston Churchill created value for their countries in governance. Great philosophers like Aristotle, Socrates and Plato were great dreamers. Of greater value to humanity is to help other people dream bigger and help them realize those dreams.
What changed? Are we not dreaming enough? Do we dream when we are young and things change on the way as we age? Is out context the wrong one? We can’t blame each other on any of these. We have been given the capacity to choose and imagine, how we use these infinite resources is subject to our decision.
In the book Zero to One, the dreamers become the innovators and inventors who help take our world from zero to one. Most of those who don’t dream enough take the world from one to n; they propagate globalization. Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump in the book Why We Want You To Be Rich articulate of the principle that mostly our education is full of the non-dreamer teachers. The impact at the end of the day is kill the dreaming ability of the students. A dream is nurtured for it to be ripe and provide a world changing product.
With my friends, we agreed that we have not dreamt enough. Our dream ability when we are young is great because we learn from our curiosities. As the days go by and we are made to incline with society and follow standards, the dream ability declines. We are made to believe that unless we have all the resources then we can dream. Most resources are scarce for fact. How do we resolve this? One young tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, the American tech hub in San Francisco said that the ability to dream big and achieve those dreams depends on family. The family support is the greatest motivation an entrepreneur can need. A fact that the people you care for believe in your dream is very important.
To dream is not enough. We have to create value out of these dreams and this is what gives birth to startups. In San Francisco USA, Bangalore India, Ontario Canada, Shenzhen china, Telaviv Israel are among the world known places for big dreamers. Literal dreamers are very many around the world. Those who turn their dreams to reality and make value out of them are a few. These big dreamers have some unique characters. They are smart thinkers, patient, resilient, self-motivated and self-driven. Oracle founder Larry Ellison remarks that he doesn’t love losing, a thought shared by Shark Tank’s cast Mark Cuban. These are individuals who love their dream so much and sacrifice everything to keep it up and to the end. After Steve Jobs left Apple, the company started struggling years later. Steve Jobs went back to Apple in the 1990’s and turned things around. He believed so much in his vision that he had to do everything to live it up.
That that our mind conceives and dreams of, we can do. We only need to hold on to the vision, live the dream and do everything in our capacity to make value out of them. There is always a way out of every situation. In the book The Art of The Deal by Donald Trump, Donald who is a real estate mogul says that he mostly invests when the risks are high and the market uncertain. In simple terms, we need to rise above our adversities if we are to make the most of our dreams when we decide to follow them.
We should never fear to try things out. Virgin owner Richard Branson is known as Mr. Yes in virgin. He is the guy who says, “Screw it, let’s do it” to the ideas he is presented with. He has never stopped to dream his best and try new things. Out of us trying new things, we get closer to achieving our dreams.
As one tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley remarked, “Silicon Valley is a state of mind,” so do I remark. Our context is within our minds, we determine the end ourselves. Dreaming big is not an end in itself but a means to an end.
Thanks to Lewis Munene and Robert Agolla for their Thoughts on the Fire sight Chat.
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