So, What's a Dreamer to do?

You must dream, of course!
But that is the easy part. In my experience, ideas are a dime a dozen. They amount to nothing without a firm commitment to asserting yourself, rolling up your sleeves and getting work to go after what you want to do, to try, to be.

I come up with what I feel are great ideas every day. They occur to me in a steady stream in a form of mental "blather" many times per day. So much so that the challenge is NOT giving into this form of "ADD" and staying focused on what appear to be the best ideas and activities that bring those BEST IDEAS to fruition.

"Sorting the wheat from the chaff" is extremely important so that you do not become bogged down with the next cool thing, or like Dory in the movie "Finding Nemo", thinking everything she looks at is different and shiny and new.

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS! Be hard on yourself in this regard and you will have a much better chance of attaining your longer term goals. As I was saying last week, you must be able to see your "Future Self" actually doing the thing you envision. But before that you must also seek out a personal vision that fits best with your values; the things that are important to you, and goals that you find personally fulfilling.

These are the things that in a real sense "float your Boat". Working towards these "Intrinsic" goals will result in your being less depressed and more satisfied with your life. Extrinsic goals are things like a new car and cool work title to impress your colleagues.

Intrinsic goals are more about satisfying yourself and creating an environment where you feel more fulfilled.

I met a guy in Peru who started a NGO to help the kids growing up in a small, impoverished area of the Central highlands of Peru'.

He was making 10% of his previous salary, but he was RICH just the same. Not in monetary terms, perhaps, but in terms his quality of life and the fact that he felt like he was finally, & honestly making a difference for people other than himself. And from this he was getting a ton of "Intrinsic" fulfillment.

It made him feel good, and the things that make you feel good will make it easier for you to set and attain goals.

"To one's own-self be true" as the saying goes, means finding what are called "Self Concordant" goals, those that fit with your own, personal sense of inner self fulfillment. Finding these will mean in the long run you will have more luck with exerting the sustained effort needed as the inevitable obstacles and problems and distractions come up to slow and frustrate you.

At the same time it's better to not let yourself become grossly over optimistic. You need to be realistic about where you're headed and what you want. On some level expecting that when your best future arrives, your best self will show up too , is nothing short of self -delusion. You must work towards your goals not just let them happen. This means making the overt effort that you need to put in to get to where you want to be.

And make it clear to yourself that you are imagining YOURSELF doing these things, That it is not some stranger who is wishing for things to be better, it is YOU deciding on a path, even a path that still has some twists and turns to it, but still one that is personal to you.

I used to know people who would post pictures on the refrigerator or next to their computer at their work station of things that they wanted to accomplish: A new SKILL, a house on acreage, adopting a child, etc. Making it tangible to them, and keeping it in the forefront of their waking life. All these things will help keep you with your "eye on the prize". But better still is for you to start envisioning yourself doing something that you would regret not doing in your life, and working backwards from that. Ask yourself "what small steps can I take now that will put on this path and keep me there?"

My personal goals when I was faced with the end of the good times with the bursting of the Real Estate Bubble in 2008, were as follows: #1 Reduce stress, #2 work outside (not in an office) #3 Retire overseas, and #4 do something completely different from production home building. AND at the same time taking advantage of what skills I had obtained to date and applying those to this something new.

If you can, go and see someone doing what you dream about doing. After my initial visit to the Rain Forest, I had a much clearer picture of myself being a Jungle guide. I had worked in the woods before as a Forester. The forest felt like home to me. I was in good physical condition, & everything about the natural world fascinated me since childhood. In a real sense I saw this as fulfilling a childhood dream of mine. I loved the idea of the adventure of it, and relished the opportunity to see a part of the world that was changing fast. "If I wanted to see the Rain-forest in it's natural state, I'd better so it soon" was my train of thought. All of these things factored into to my high level of enthusiasm and sense of urgency. In a real sense, one door started to close and another was being pried open a crack by this process.

However, I knew I had to learn a lot to be able to function in that environment. New Language? New culture? New Laws? New possibilities!!!

The next installment of this blog will discuss how I overcame the obstacles put in my path and how they continued to shape my personal and professional life in the Amazon.