This shot would be perfect for some of the fiction I write and I probably should save it for that but it also fits the post you are reading now.
It is a post based upon what if, as what if you got all you dreamed of what would life look like then?
That photo is supposed to have sort of a mix of mystery and magic, like you walked down that alley and the world changes.
What Would Happen If You Got What You Wanted?
Sometimes I ask my kids to think about the question and to answer it because it is useful for teaching moments. But it is not limited to working with them to think about what cause and effect. Not limited to trying to help them see how what we do now can affect the future.
It is useful for adults to think about what it is we want. I don’t know about you but I have a lot of different dreams and I am actively working on turning some of them into reality.
Dreams are important to me, they are part of what motivates me to keep going. But sometimes I like to do a reality check and think about what my dreams are and ask which of them are relegated to improbable and which are impossible.
There is a place or space between impossible and improbable that is important to me as well because it is the center spot called possible. Â The realm of possible is always exciting to me because those dreams are things that I see as being accessible and achievable. They require work, time and effort but they aren’t dependent on luck.
I look at things that are dependent upon luck as being contingent upon effort and desire. Effort and desire leads to success and the improbable dreams are built upon small victories that lead to large ones.
One of the reasons I ask what would happen if you got what you wanted is it helps me to identify what I want as well as what I need. Flip through the pages here and you’ll see it is a regular theme.
Might be because I have been immersed in change for a while, might be for a variety of other reasons. What I know for certain is my heart hurts and my soul aches because the path I was on was wrong for me.
Took a bit of time to sort out and accept but once I did it became clear I needed to figure out the answers to want and need.
Why?
If you don’t know what you want or need you can’t actively work on obtaining them. Once you identify them you place yourself in a position in which you can create a road map that leads to them.
One of the other reasons why I like to ask the question is as we grow people change and so do some of our dreams so it makes sense to think about it from time to time and figure out where things are at.
What Happens If You Get What You Want?
It is an obvious question. What happens if you get what you want? What happens if you figure out what you want and what you need and manage to get those things?
Someone call the Shmata Queen and remind her I know things and that among those is I am a practical dreamer.
My first focus is on getting what I need and the second is on getting what I want. I don’t expect to get it all in one fell swoop and as I said people change over time.
I am not going to limit myself solely to what I want now. I want to write several books. In the future I may want to write screenplays for the movies or maybe for Broadway.
I don’t know and I don’t have to know all that I may want. I just have to ask the question and determine if I am willing to go after whatever it is my heart desires.
A practical dreamer breaks things into pieces and then goes from there.
What about you? Do you know what you want?
Jens-Petter Berget says
It’s hard to understand the difference between what I need and what I want. I know that I don’t really need most things, and that it’s mostly about what I want. For instance, I’m thinking about buying the new iPhone 6 plus. All my arguments so far is about me needing it. I’ll be better at everything with it, and my work will be of a much higher quality etc.. but, that’s probably just a way to get myself to buy it.
The JackB says
@berget:disqus I think about it often. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the two, especially when it comes to technology. There is a point where it becomes more challenging to determine what we need versus what we want.
Larry says
What about if what you want and need are the same thing? That would seem to be practical. However, maybe that would mean no dreams which is sad. I also see this post as one about direction. Where are you going – figure it out. I don’t know – maybe, that’s just on my mind.
The JackB says
@Larry It is absolutely about direction. Sometimes we discover that we got lost on the way to nirvana and need to pivot and head another direction.