Apparently 10% of people write down their dreams, out of that percentage 95% achieve them. I do not have a credible source for this statistic and we all know we should check our facts before making assumptions. Yet for this purpose of this post, let’s say it is true, because I think it’s very likely it is. I know more than anyone that if I write a list there is an 87.94% chance I’ll complete it. (I actually just made up that percentage because I hate maths, but I know a list motivates me a lot).
I’m in a rather regular pattern of writing down lists of what I would need to achieve in that particular day. It's usually mundane things like doing the dishes, reading a chapter of my history guide or cleaning my room. I have zero motivation for these kinds of tasks, but thankfully, the list comes to the rescue. If I merely write down these things in my little red notebook which I have declared the “Book of Lists”, throughout the day I will double check and cross them off as I complete them. That immediate satisfaction of drawing a line through a written-down task is what drives me to use the list! By the end of the day, the tasks are usually all completed and I can have a nice night doing whatever the heck I want.
Hopefully I’ve established to you that the use of the everyday list has great benefits. But what about for future goals? I can remember in high school, either in home room or Pathway Planning, we would have to write down various goals. Things like, what are my short term goals, my opportunities, where do I want to be in five years, those kinds of things. Even in primary school I had to write a goal for each term. In my opinion, ‘goals’ are quite a different and exponentially boring form of list writing. You can’t complete them straight away, but they’re too close to be merited exciting. I can’t really even remember any of the goals I wrote, because I obviously didn’t place enough importance on them, or even care really. I’m all for lists – of any type – but can just not seem to get energized for goals.
Instead of writing goals down, I say we should write our dreams. Goals define what we think is achievable within the next however many days or months or years. Our dreams however, can be as long term and equally radical as we like. That’s why it’s called a dream. You want to go to space even though NASA’s shut down? Dream away. Want to be a worldwide musician even if it feels like it will never happen? Keep dreaming. For a while I’ve wanted to go on The Amazing Race. The first season of the Australian version recently finished and applications for the next season are open now. After having a quick squiz I realised that I not only have to wait four years to be old enough, but that anyone who is “associated with any news or media outlet, including any web based media outlet, in Australia or elsewhere” is not permitted to apply.That one sentence offered a bit of dream crushing for me as I am already involved voluntarily in media outlets and hope that to be my career by the time I’m 21, meaning being a contestant on The Amazing Race is a quite implausible. But that’s the point of a dream. They’re meant to be a bit crazy, a bit unachievable but it makes it all the more awesome when you actually get there. So I’m going to dream away and write it on my list.
Don’t just briefly think of your dreams. Write them down! Just like my boring lists of housework and schoolwork, if you have something on paper that you regularly look at, it will motivate you far more to achieve it. At youth group two years ago we wrote down our dreams, and although mine have changed somewhat, the list is still on my wall as a reminder that with a list, nothing is impossible.
