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Dreaming big is easy. Growing into bigness requires courage. Courage precedes growth because growing requires doing things that you aren’t already doing. Take risks. Stretch yourself. But if what you want to do is get the feeling of bigness without all that scary and uncomfortable growing, keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Keep your bigness in the realm of dreaming.

At my most recent training retreat, I made a habit of getting up early, finding a quiet spot on the porch looking out over the lawn at the redwoods, and journaling.

To get my creativity flowing, I opened one of my poetry books to a random page. This morning, the last day of the retreat, I brought twist with me and opened to this poem:

Believe
She crouched and cowered
Shivering in the shadows cast
By the ones she looked up to
The ones who spoke in bright colors
The ones who danced loud
The ones who created stories
Rather than simply telling them
She wished
Oh how she wished
She could weave clouds in her hair
Shake hands with the sun
Taste the crisp blue of the sky
And she went on wishing
Until one day a voice fell
Like wet autumn leaves
It told her
Little one
We do not get courageous
By being big
We get big
By being courageous

Those last four lines are the stuff of memes and fridge magnet wisdom, but there’s meaning there.

The point is that courage precedes growth. If you’re already big, then doing something that big people do is not courageous. It’s just bigness being big. It’s in the nature of bigness to act big. To a big person, the big activity does not feel big. It feels average.

If you are small and want to be big, you have to take courageous steps. You have to do the things that will earn growth. This involves taking risks and stretching yourself. It does not involve doing the same things you’ve been doing and hoping growth will magically occur. Doing small things will not grow you to bigness, no matter how many small things you do.

But if you really love dreaming big, then by all means stay small.

Do not act with courage. Do not stretch yourself. If you stretch yourself, you may grow and become big, and then your dreams would feel… average. Maybe even small.

It’s fun to dream big. Imagining yourself doing big things as easily as breathing, reaping the big benefits of your big actions.

Dreaming big is comfortable You can have all the feeling of bigness without having to do any of that scary and uncomfortable growing.

So if you are dreaming big and want to keep dreaming big, you’ve got this. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing! You’re doing great! Don’t change a thing!

When you get tired of just dreaming, give me a call.