3 Skills That (If Applied) Will Help You Connect People to Their Dreams

As content creators, we have the ability to evoke emotion, stir unearthed dreams, and inspire people to go after them. We can do this by posing intriguing questions, sharing alternative perspectives, opening up new ways of thinking, and taking them on unexpected journeys. 

It's a beautiful opportunity. And it's unique. 

All in all, we get about 5–7 minutes to do all of the above so every second counts. Every word, image, quote, list, headline, title, subtitle, link, and juicy piece of advice matters. 

You matter. 

Dreams matter. 

So, how to make people believe in dreams again?

Here are my top three:

1. Help others set and achieve small, bite-sized goals 

Going after a dream can feel overwhelming, almost to the point of paralysis. Small, bite-sized chunks, on the other hand, are far more manageable. 

Achieving these manageable goals helps to release small bursts of dopamine on the regular that then tells the brain and the heart to continue doing what it's doing because it's working. It's really working. 

It might still be a little far away but tiny steps forward can make huge inroads. Or as Mark Twain said - "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one." - Mark Twain

"Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection." - Mark Twain

2. Let your life be inspirational

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi 

The most contagious source of inspiration is happiness. 

So, live a life that lights you up, makes you feel alive, takes you on adventures, teaches you many great things, helps you learn, connect, share, and grow from your heart. If you do, others will naturally want to know what you're up to and how you do it. Your job is to then simply share from your heart with compassion, humility, and excitement and show them the way. 

There's really nothing to sell, there are only things to share. And that leads me to my next point. 

3. Give away all that you have learned 

Everything you think, know, believe, and trust used to be someone else's. And after you're gone, it will belong to someone else again. 

When we see we are a part of a beautiful relay race through the vastness of eternity, there is nothing to hold onto as nothing is ours to keep. 

So, share your gifts, recycle what you've learned, and dispense it as something that's current and fresh. 

Be brave enough to let go. And remember that in letting go, you're actually making space for exciting unknown adventures to enter. 

What are dreams? 

Dreams are images of a future we want to experience and those images are simple chemical impulses that we have called thoughts. 

As content creators, we have an opportunity to shape people's thoughts and therefore dreams.

So, plant the seeds that you wish to see flower and blossom. Speak words with passion, joy, love, and excitement. Remember what it was like to be a child again, one that is uninhibited, free, and wild.

Dare to dream bigger so others can do the same.

What are thoughts?

They're intangible. No one can measure them. No one can hold onto them, touch them, understand where they come from, or fathom the speed at which they move.

However, everyone has them and they happen all of the time, throughout our entire lives. 

In simple terms: The world is made up of thoughts that have become real. 

A thought is the first step on the path to creation. Everything in existence today once belonged as a wonderful unpolished, uninhibited thought. 

Flying to the moon first began in someone's head as a brilliant idea. Someone else dreamed of connecting the world via satellites. Someone else wanted to become a fish and swim underwater. All of those ideas, however, started as wonderful, silent thought in someone's head.

We, as creators, are the same.

A thought doesn't exist yet. It's invisible. It's intimate. It holds tremendous power and potential. And it wants to come alive! However, the only way they can do that is by giving them our loving attention.

If we consistently think the same thoughts, they become our personal reality. And as Dr. Joe Dispenza reminds us: our personal reality becomes our personality.

In the mind's world, where everything is possible, there is nothing too grand or too big or too impossible or too audacious to conjure up and create. It's only our own limitations that hold us back. 

It's often our own doubt or lack of self-worth that stops us from trying and going after our dreams. 

Our job as creators is to show how to manifest the invisible. And if that sounds too big, remember that we do this more than you might think. After all, we turn chemical synapses in the brain into real words on a screen that people read every single day. So, if you're in doubt of whether magic exists, the words you're reading right now are proof that it does. 

Our job then is to turn invisible thoughts into ideas and invisible dreams into real creations. 

Our job is to make people believe in dreams again.

The shocking number of thoughts that belong to yesterday

A whopping 98% of all thoughts that we think on a daily basis belong to yesterday. That means that we've already thought 98% of the thoughts that we'll think today. And when you consider that we average a whopping 50,000 thoughts a day, that's a sh*t ton of thoughts that we carry from the past into the future.

To throw more maths at you, there are 1,440 minutes in a day and 1,440 minutes = 86,400 seconds. 

It doesn't take a mathematician to notice that 50,000 into 86,400 averages out at around 1 and a half. So, that means that we think a thought every 1 and half seconds.

Just 2% of all the 50,000 thoughts we think on the daily = 1,000. That means that roughly 49,000 thoughts that we think on a daily basis are old and roughly 1,000 are new.

To go one step further, there are 3,600 seconds in an hour so if we follow this math equation until the end, 1,000 thoughts squeezes into about 30 minutes.

24 hours minus 30 minutes = 23 hours and 30 minutes. So, for 23 hours and 30 minutes every day, we're thinking what we thought yesterday. If a large portion of those 49,000 thoughts are crappy ones, we'll more than likely have a crappy day. And if we have a crappy day, we're more likely to have a crappy week and so on. 

Now, if you're still with me, you might be surprised by these statistics. However, the good news is that if you are surprised at least that means that you're thinking something that you hadn't thought yesterday. Hooray! 

Why is this significant?

The significance of this reaches far and wide. We are habitual beings, after all, so we often follow neural pathways in the brain that we know, for good or for bad.

Couple that with wonderful chemicals such as dopamine that the body habitually releases to experience more of the same and you get a mixing pot of electricity (thoughts) flirting with chemicals (emotions) that influence and direct everything that we do.

Dopamine is a happy chemical that gets released throughout the day, especially through joy. This then propels us to do it again.

However, everyone's interpretation of joy is different. Someone's joy can be highly addictive or destructive, for example, while someone else's might look totally different. 

Exercise, hugging, being in nature, lovemaking, laughing, dancing, drinking cacao, being with animals, and mindfulness practices are some of the healthy choices that release dopamine. But drugs, tobacco, sugar, and pornography also release it in the bucket loads too. 

The significance of thinking 98% of the same thoughts as yesterday is that depending on what thoughts inspired yesterday's emotions and actions will determine what today's thoughts, emotions, and actions are too. It's hard to fight this cycle. We are hardwired into these patterns so they're often hard to break.

I said they're hard to break but they're not impossible. We can actively engage in activities that support change if a change is what we want. And we can dare to dream if we can imagine a new future. 

When we learn new things, new things create new thoughts. New thoughts expand the brain and start to add a few more thoughts and precious seconds in the 2% club. 

On average

On average it takes about 21 days to let go of old habits and solidify new ones. This is because it takes the brain time to fire and wire new pathways that are strong enough to last.

So, have fun, be patient, be creative, light-hearted, compassionate, playful, dedicated, and silly. Give yourself as many dopamine hits as you can; meditate, breathe, or do whatever else lights you up and lifts your spirit.

After all, what you think now will most likely be what you think tomorrow. So, choose carefully, your future literally depends on it.

Closing thoughts 

As content creators, thought leaders, and trendsetters, we hold great influence on people's well-being. It's our responsibility to inspire others, stir deep emotion, and invite them to dream bigger than they ever imagined possible. 

Remember to help them set small, bite-sized goals that are achievable. Let your life be an inspiration to others, and give away all that you know. Turn the invisible real. Be the magician that you were born to be. 

And always remember: 

"Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile." - Mark Twain