The first step to entrepreneurship is daring to dream. One of the experiences I find most fascinating is observing children and their ability to dream. How many times have we heard the phrase, “When I grow up, I want to be a …” We are all born dreamers. Unfortunately, many of us let our dreams die too soon.
We all have the ability to dream; but every dream needs a plan, and every plan, an entrepreneur.
—Mayra Walters
Some time ago, I had the opportunity to read a book- Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard. It is the moving story of an adolescent who dared to dream. Liz Murray was born in the Bronx, New York. Her parents were drug addicts. While they consumed coke and heroin, she and her sister starved. In her book, she shares, “We would eat ice cubes or share a toothpaste tube for dinner.”
When Liz was 16, her mother died, her father entered a homeless shelter, and her sister moved in with a friend. Nothing seemed favorable for Liz- she was homeless and broke. But one day, she decided to go against all adversity. She went back to school.
A dream, a plan, an entrepreneur
She consistently worked hard on her studies that she impressed one of her teachers. He invited her on a tour of Harvard University. This experience caused the awakening in her of the ability to dream.
As her dream grew inside, she saw the need to develop a plan in order to enter Harvard. She developed a plan and implemented it. She undertook with perseverance and much effort, graduating from high school in two years and obtaining a scholarship from the New York Times, which gave her access to “The University of Harvard”.
Liz describes herself with the following phrase: “My parents were desperate drug addicts, I’m a Harvard graduate.” Daring to dream in spite of adversity lead her to develop and undertake a plan, in order to achieve an impossible dream.
Where do you find yourself?
Life’s circumstances or limitations force some of us to let our dreams die prematurely. Yet, the innate ability to dream is in us. Challenge your limits!
In others, the ideal dream was stifled by fear. Planning is always an intimidating phase. The “What if’s” and the “How” and “When’s” either push us or paralyze us to take the first step. Plan, organize, and develop your dream. Discover what the next step is! The worst that could happen is not attempting at all.
Undertake your plan. A dream and a plan are short-lived without action and an entrepreneur. Steve Jobs put it very simply: “If you do not fight for your dreams, someone will hire you to work for theirs.”
What about you? Where do you find yourself? What is the next step you will take?