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Dare to Dream

June 20, 2016

Remember the story I shared with you last week about a boy called Monty Roberts and what he went through when he was a kid at the hands of his teacher? If you didn’t get a chance to read it, then you’d better look for last week’s Guardian on Sunday, or you can check out the story here.  The reason I’m telling you to look it up is because today’s post has a co-relation to that one and so if you didn’t read the previous one you might not quite get the full picture of the message I want to share with you.

I was curious to find out what happened to that teacher who tried to kill Monty’s dream and so as always, I went online to do my “research”. What I found out made me laugh. You see, one day, many years later, that same teacher took a group of thirty boys to a 200-acre horse ranch upon which a 4,000 square foot house sat. He had no idea whose ranch it was but as soon as he went into the house he instantly figured that out. Why? Because hanging over the mantelpiece was the same paper Monty submitted years before, still marked with a red “F”.  I don’t believe it was a coincidence that out of all the ranches in the world the teacher just chose Monty’s to take the students to. You know what they say about karma….

As I was thinking about this whole story again, I couldn’t help but wonder why Monty kept that paper. There could have been many reasons but I will just share the two that stood out for me. Just so we are clear, I did not ask Monty this question but I just put myself in his shoes and made my own conclusions.

The first reason I came up with is based on a saying I have often seen and read many times. This quote by the famous Frank Sinatra says, “The best revenge is massive success”. Indeed Monty Roberts’ success is beyond massive. He has achieved more than his original dream and now he is helping others achieve their dreams too.

I believe he didn’t get where he is today by getting free rides or free passes in life. I believe he had to work extra hard to get to where he is today. I can guarantee you that there are many days he wanted to give up but whenever he saw that “F” on his paper, he would go back and work even harder just to make sure he proved his teacher wrong. Friends sometimes the best motivation ever is derived from naysayers. The more they say no to your dream, the more you become determined to achieve it. That “F” acted as a catalyst for Monty to not give up his dream at all. It kept pushing him until he caught up with his dream. Your dream should be big enough to keep you grounded.

The second reason I came up with as to why Monty kept the paper is because he had invested his all into that paper. He had taken time to put his dream together and so he was using that piece of paper as a guideline to help him stay on course. Friends unless you have your dream properly written and documented, then I can guarantee you it will never become a reality. You have to put your dream on paper and make sure you see it every day of your life. I do not know of any successful person today that has succeeded without putting their dreams on paper, and thinking about them every day. None. A dream written down quickly becomes a goal. I like what Steve Maraboli in his book “Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and Human Experience”, says about dreams. He says, “if you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal – you have a wish”. And I completely concur with him. The reason why many of us do not accomplish our dreams is because we never write them.

I have heard very many people say that when they started out doing what they are doing today (i.e. living their dreams), they did not have any money in their pockets but when they put down their dream and placed it in a place where they would see it every day, then they started getting ideas on how to raise the necessary capital to make their dreams come true. Some of them just miraculously got the finances in ways they had not even imagined possible. Some of them got grants; others got sponsors who sponsored their dreams 100% without requesting for any refunds.  Whatever the source, it all started with a properly documented dream.

I have a very recent example of someone who is currently living her dream even though she never thought in her wildest dreams (pun intended) that this particular dream would become a reality. Her name is Seve Kinya and here is her story.

In March this year, Seve Kinya went to Facebook and posted some photos of herself in “China”, thanks to Photoshop. What she did was that she took some photos she had taken in the past (not in China) and used Photoshop to stitch those photos into images of the Great wall of China, the Tiananmen Square among other places in China. She even had a “photo” of herself standing next to the “plane” she was to board to China. Needless to say, the moment she posted those photos on Facebook she became toast. Toast in the sense that all manner of online bullies came up and started bullying her.  She became a topic of discussion and at some point I remember she was a trending topic on the streets of Twitter. But something very amazing happened after she posted those photos online. 

Someone (I know) saw the genuineness of her desire to visit China and decided to use his influence to mobilize resources from different people and organizations to send Seve Kinya to China for real. The girl didn’t even have a passport to start with but in May 2016, roughly two months after she posted photoshopped photos of herself in China, she got her passport thanks to this guy who decided to make her dream come true - for the record, he didn’t know her in person and had never seen her before.  The next step was for her to get a visa to China, which is not an easy thing, but eventually, she managed to get one. To cut a long story short, let's just say lots of preparations went into this trip and eventually, D-Day came.

On the 13th of June 2016, Seve Kinya posted a real photo of herself at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, finally leaving for China! She posted photos of herself in the plane, a real plane this time. She posted photos of herself at the airport in Doha and eventually when she landed in China. Needless to say, those of us who follow her have been getting regular updates of where she is and what she is doing throughout her trip to and in China; this time real photos.

The lady is being treated like a celeb to the point that she has four assistants to herself! A simple girl who didn’t even have a passport at the beginning of this year, but her dream came true just because she took the trouble to document it and keep it before her eyes. Of course I don't need to tell you that her life will never be the same again! She has been meeting phenomenal people and creating networks that will definitely increase her net worth. She dared to dream, she dared to document her dream in the most unorthodox manner and now she is living that dream as you read this post today!

She dared to dream. What about you? Do you have a dream? Have you taken the time to document your dream? If you have not then I challenge you to take time to do so and ensure you see that dream every day. As time goes by you will either find ways of making that dream a reality, or those ways will find you.

Today I wish to end this article by quoting my most treasured book, the Bible. Habakkuk 2:2. It says, “…write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, so that he can run he that reads it”.

In other words, the only way you will ever be able to make your vision/dream/goal a reality is by ensuring you write it down and make sure you see (read) it daily. Every day you do that, you will get new ideas of how to make your dream a reality.

Monty Roberts wrote his dream on a paper in details. Seve Kinya also put her dream on "virtual paper" through photos. They both achieved their dreams. You can too if you take time to write your dream and keep it before your eyes daily.

Yes. There is power in a properly written or documented dream.

PS: If you want to know more about Seve Kinya, or you want to connect with her on Facebook, you can do so by looking her up and following her. At the time I was sending this article, she had 4,979 friends and 15,512 people following her from all over the world. Now imagine what she can do with such a following if she decides to…. That’s the power of a written dream!

PS: Article originally published in Tanzania's Guardian on Sunday on the 19th June, 2016, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words".

 

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