{"id":46386,"date":"2016-12-24T10:31:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-24T18:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=46386"},"modified":"2017-05-27T08:46:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T16:46:59","slug":"how-to-dream-specifically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-dream-specifically\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Dream Specifically"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There\u2019s a concept in sailing called velocity made good<\/em>, or VMG for short. Because a sailboat cannot point directly into the wind and make any forward progress, you have to sail at an angle to the wind. So VMG is the speed that you\u2019re actually making toward your destination.<\/p>\n

For instance, as part of a round the world sailing trip I took with my family, we wanted to sail from Panama to the Galapagos. Our speed looked great on the surface, but there were forces holding us back. The most obvious was that the wind was coming directly from where we wanted to go. To make any forward progress, we had to sail at a forty-degree angle to the wind (called tacking<\/em>), so we were doing a massive zigzag toward our destination. That quickly turns a six hundred-mile passage into a twelve-hundred-mile passage. The wind was also unseasonably light, so we just weren\u2019t sailing fast enough.<\/p>\n

However, perhaps the most disheartening force working against us was the one we couldn\u2019t see. There were strong currents under the surface of the sea that were literally pushing us back. So while the boat felt as though she was moving forward across the surface of the ocean, we were actually making very little progress.<\/p>\n

The same thing has a tendency to occur in our day-to-day lives: Our VMG just isn\u2019t good enough. We have our eyes on a goal, or a dream, and yet there are forces\u2014both seen and unseen\u2014working against our realizing those dreams.<\/p>\n

A key question to ask yourself to begin counteracting those forces is this: Do I really know where I am heading, and where I want to go? Said another way\u2014how am I dreaming?<\/p>\n

If you are like most folks\u2014you have a dream. In fact, you have lots of dreams, and yet, the chances are that they are not specific at all. Almost by default, your VMG toward them will be poor.<\/p>\n

Dreams, like wanting to be successful in business, wanting to retire rich or early, wanting to be happier, or wanting to have a strong marriage are all vague. Each is lacking specific detail about not only how you\u2019ll arrive at that goal but also what the dream specifically means. What does it mean to you to be happy? How much do you require in your savings account to fund a comfortable retirement? \u201cI want to have a successful career\u201d is a dream that almost everyone has, but people who are specific about defining what success means to them, how they will get there, and by when are far more likely to achieve the dream.<\/p>\n

Without specifics, all these dreams lack \u201cteeth\u201d; they are vague. Because they are vague, they open the door for you to focus on the obstacles, fears, and dreads. Ultimately, these negatives get so overwhelming that they paralyze you and prevent you from ever achieving your dream. Your VMG toward that dream will stall altogether, and the likelihood is high that you won\u2019t achieve it. That\u2019s what I mean when I say you\u2019ll die full of potential. You could have achieved something that was important to you during the course of your lifetime, but you didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Back to the theory of VMG. You are not always sailing against a current when you set sail, and you do not always have to tack back and forth because the wind is coming directly from your destination. Sometimes, the wind is on your beam, (coming across the side of the boat). This typically enables your boat to sail along nice and fast. And sometimes, the current is actually accelerating your progress toward your destination. Your boat\u2019s instruments indicate you are sailing along at seven knots, but your VMG\u2014because of the current\u2014is actually twelve. That doesn\u2019t sound like much of a difference\u2014but in a sailboat, it is massive, cutting the time to your destination almost in half\u2014a really big deal! It\u2019s the difference between taking eighteen days to cross the Atlantic and taking ten and a half days. Metaphorically, this is precisely what happens when you change the way you dream. Instead of dreaming in a way that enables all your specific fears, dreads, and obstacles to paralyze you, you need to dream specifically<\/em>. With this approach, you will be much better equipped to simply deal with all the fears, dreads, and obstacles\u2014one at a time as they arise.<\/p>\n

This changes the conversation entirely. One of the positive side effects of this approach is that it places you much more firmly in the driver\u2019s seat. You have made a specific choice, and you are taking the necessary steps to make it happen. You are no longer a victim of circumstance. All of the more difficult decisions will be easier because they have context\u2014they are all enablers for you to achieve your specific dream.<\/p>\n

\n

Jeremy Cage is President of The Cage Group, which focuses on unleashing the full potential of businesses and people.\u00a0 He has held senior management positions at Procter and Gamble and PepsiCo; has lived and worked in Sweden, England, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and the United States; and took sixteen months to sail around the world with his family.\u00a0 Cage is also co-founder of several start-up companies in the areas of healthy foods and nutrition. You can learn more at: www.thecagegroup.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dreams, like wanting to be successful in business, wanting to retire rich or early, wanting to be happier, or wanting to have a strong marriage are all vague. Each is lacking specific detail and therefore is flawed. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":46388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[45,32,6,31],"tags":[5705,4125,66,4629,513],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Dream Specifically<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dreams, like wanting to be successful in business, wanting to retire rich or early, wanting to be happier, or wanting to have a strong marriage are all vague. 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