Potentiality Digest: Assemble Your Dream Team

By Sodeeq Abdulakeem Sulyman

Every month, I have made it my tradition to complete reading at least a book, aside from the daily nuggets, inspirational write-ups and articles (academic journals inclusive). As I was selecting the book to be read this month from the array of titles available in the Sulyman Luqman Memorial Library, I came across two books by two different renowned authors, Dale Carnegie and John C. Maxwell.

Carnegie’s book is titled “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,” while John C Maxwell’s book is titled “Put Your Dream to Test.” As I was flipping through the pages of Maxwell’s book, I came across a principle – People Question – that I considered worthy to be shared, because of its imperativeness to crafting a dream, evaluating a dream, working on a dream and actualising the potential of one’s dream.

In the background, Maxwell aptly defined dream as an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will, and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. This brief, but direct description of dream clearly draws the line between dream and desires and mere wishes. It connotes that a dream is not an illusion, but a clear mental and intuitive illustration of what you want in the future, how you want your life to be described, as a whole!

That being said, the main point now is your dream team. Have you ever considered one? Did you ever deem it necessary for yourself to build a dream team or have you been invited to play a part in another person’s dream team? You need to understand this: For your dream to be birthed into reality, it will require the support, commitment, confidence and interest of others who see an invaluable benefit in your dream and believe in its rewards.

Why? This is because actualising your dream is not going to be easy. Barack Obama says “Building the future that you see, the vision that you have – not just for yourself, but your country – would not going to be easy.” You have to face some uncertainties, challenges by the inevitabilities associated with your dream; but when you are in the fold of the right people, their actions, support and encouragement will make you a potent force as you quest for the realisation of your dream.

It is not necessary that you have a large number of individuals in your team; what matters is the quality, the value those who subscribed to your dream can add to you to ensure that your characters are continuously refined and amplified towards making your dream a reality. The people in your dream team must be those who will never contemplate on your ability to activate the vision that has been illuminated in your mind, the seed that has been planted in your heart.

The atmosphere you generate from your dream team will have a great influence on the outcome of your dream. This is because, aside from being the original owner of the dream, how they treat you will nourish you and stabilize the rhythm you enjoy as you work on your dream and what they do to positively influence your dream becomes the bridge that sets the path for your dream to toil. Through your dream team, you become the real champion!

Therefore, the people in your dream team must be those who will be inspiring you; fuelling your energies, fanning the flame of passion in you without letting you lose track of the targets and goals you have set for yourself. They must be able to constructively criticize you, offering you holistic feedback and challenge you to always work on shifting from your comfort zone to your strength zones.

No one has practically achieved his dream without the aid of a dream team. This is because it is normal for the hurdles of life to rear its head as you are working towards your dream; but if your dream team is made of quality people, every hurdle will be used to increase your hope of actualising your dream. To them, the assertion of Henry David Thoreau that “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” is an integral part of the process.

At this point, don’t you now think you need a dream team? Of course, you need to. Get yourself connected with people who share the same vibe with you, who believe in your enormous energies, in your power to tap into the unlimited potential of yours; they will bring glamour to your life and show you the reasons why you deserves to be celebrated by becoming more, operating at a level that amazes yourself and others. Oprah Winfrey affirmed that, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”