Always Think and Dream Big

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” –Les Brown

“Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”-- Napoleon Hill

All through civilization, those who have made the most difference are those who started as dreamers. They dreamed and acted on their dreams and the world has never been the same again. “The greatest achievement was at first, and for a time, a dream.” If you dream big, you achieve big. Many dreamed what may have been at the time taken as impossible dreams but with the help of man’s creative imagination, the impossible became the possible. The story is now being told all over the world how Henry Ford who was born in 1863 in a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, USA started the Ford Motor Company. He was a mechanic and dreamed of one day building a “horseless wagon” and mass-producing it. This appeared then to be an impossible dream because all forms of transportation were mostly by horse-drawn carriages. He followed up this dream by experimenting at his leisure hours. By 1893, he completed the construction of his first automobile. By 1903, Ford Motor Company was born and his dream of “belting-the-earth” with automobiles began. This led to the production of the popular Ford Model T. By 1927, about 15 million of the cars had been sold. The impossible had become the possible and Mr. Ford became very wealthy as a result. It is pertinent to mention that Mr. Ford had limited education, was of average intelligence and just as human as you and I.

Any successful venture began as an idea. Dreams metamorphose into ideas. It takes just one good idea followed by action to change your life forever. Just think about it. Is it money, power or happiness you want? Anything, all you need is to think about it. Put your mind to it and follow through with action. You can never miss the mark. We are what we think, period! A long time ago, my favorite poet Walter D. Wintle captured it all perfectly in the following verses.

 “If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you like to win but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost.

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will—

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are.

You’ve got to think high to rise.

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

 Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN.”

 “One small step for man and one giant leap for mankind”, these were the words of Neil Armstrong an American astronaut and the first man to walk on the moon. This was in July 1969, a few years after President J. F. Kennedy who before his unfortunate assassination in 1963, sent notice to the world that America will put a man on the moon within 10 years. Today, man practically “lives” on the moon, thanks to the great American dream. You too can dream, act and be someone.

Why You Must not Believe in Defeat

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” –Thomas Edison

Chief Obafemi Awolowo a foremost Nigerian politician of blessed memory is widely quoted to have believed that “whatever happens to a man in this world whether good or bad is for his own good.” There is no experience in life no matter how unpleasant that does not teach us something. We profit by learning from such experiences and moving on. So it is with failures. If you have never failed at doing something in life, it is a pointer that you have never really made progress.

 

The lives of the greatest achievers in human civilization have been strewn with piles of failures. They learned from their failures and moved on to greatness. Mr. Abraham Lincoln who became the 16^th President of the United States in 1860 failed in Business at age 22, was defeated in Legislative Election at 23, failed in Business again at 24, lost a Sweetheart at 26, had a Nervous break-down at 27, was defeated for Speaker at 29, was defeated for Elector at 31, was defeated for Congress at 34, was defeated again for Congress at 39, was defeated for Senate at 46, was defeated for Vice President at 47, was defeated for Senate again at 49, and was finally elected President at 51. History records him as one of the greatest Presidents the United States has ever had.

You are not defeated when you get knocked down. You are defeated when you accept defeat by staying down. Boxers who get counted out are those who stay down when knocked down. This principle holds true in real life. Those who fail are those who accept failure as their lot. These are the ones who do not realize that “you do not drown by falling into water, you drown by staying there.” Do not accept “No” for an answer. Accept “No” for a question believing that the person telling you “No” wants to hear more from you before they make up their minds on the matter. Success always follows a series of failures and it usually comes when it is least expected. It is better to do some things and fail than to do nothing and succeed. Every failure teaches a lesson on the way to do things better. You progress and challenge yourself harder and farther when you are yet to succeed in doing what you have chosen to do. This is why you should never believe in defeat.