Is It Too Late to Dream?
In her new book Get a Life: Not Just a Job, Dr. Paula Caligiuri writes, “I believe many of us lose our ability to dream about fantasy careers somewhere in our late teens or early twenties, the time when the dominant message is that we should “get serious about our future.” She describes what sadly seems to most to be unbridgeable gap between my life and those ”unattainable dreams.”
Not sure if Paula and I are related, though I’m thinking “yes,” and certainly by passion… that’s been my observation as well. Somewhere along the line, too many simply resign to the fact that life gets to beat the crap out of our dreams. Life – 1. Us - 0. Challenges in marriages, mortgages and even our own mental well-being create a world for most where “It’s just not going to happen… not in my lifetime.”
So, when does it become just too late to dream?
Well, that depends on your dream? If its to play in the NBA or pitch in the Major Leagues – that may not happen unless your able to be “Rookie-Like” throw 98 mile an hour fast balls at your age. However, if your dream still flows from deep passion, your true skills and a sense of authentic calling - is it really too late? Who says?
Paula Caligiuri writes, “There is a wide open space between ‘unattainable dream’ and ‘get serious career’ that should allow for plenty of room for creativity to fulfill the underlying motivations and abilities of why we held a certain dream. We just need to root our career dreams in the realities of our natural skills and abilities – and the probability that we can attain the career act.” (p. 58)
- So, if you’re 48 and dread Sunday nights, and feel stuck…. why not do the work to dust off your real dreams? What do you have to lose? What might you gain?
- If you’re 65, in decent health and have a vision to make a difference in India – what’s holding you back?
- If you’re 80 and you have a vision to mentor teens, who says you “just don’t get it!”
What if you don’t have clarity on your dream? What if you don’t have a plan? – GET CLARITY! MAKE A PLAN! (That’s what the Endeavor program is all about by the way!) Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck wrote, “I guess one of the things that sets us apart from other animals is our dreams and plans.” Or as author John Maxwell wrote, “Only those who see their dream are able to seize their dream.” Will that cost you. Yes, it may. Author Bobb Biehl challenges, “Consider investing a percentage of your hard-earned money in your own dreams.”
My guess is that no one on their death-bed says, “I’m disappointed I followed my dream.” However, many more would say just the opposite. “I’m disappointed I DIDN”T follow my dream.” Just imagine the legacy to your family and to the next generation if the words one day spoken of you were, “Even in her eighties and into her nineties she was still dreaming big … She was still alive, energized… and following that dream of hers!”
May that one day be said of you… and of me.
Hi Jeff — I wonder whether we are related?!? My great uncle (who was still living in Calabria when he passed away at age 103) once told me that we were spelling our name incorrectly — and that it should have an “e” at the end. Either way, we are, indeed, psychologically related. I deeply appreciate you including the reference to “Get a Life, Not a Job” in your post. As I’ve mentioned in the book, with a far greater use of the contingent workforce and the changes in the psychological contract today’s employment reality requires a very different approach. The most fulfilling careers are now far more self-directed and self-created. I appreciate your help in getting the message out. Thank you!