Recently Ger and I found ourselves staying at the same hotel as a unique group of people who build and fly their own Ultralight planes. You know, those tiny little two seater planes with the propeller in the back just behind the very small cockpit? Ouf. I get nervous just thinking about it.
Well, one evening we had the privilege of meeting Larry and his wife Janet. The conversation would have been interesting enough even if we had just stayed focused on the fact that the plane that Larry flies had been delivered to him in pieces with instructions – something like a model car – and that he had then proceeded to assemble it in his garage. Imagine the looks on his neighbors’ faces when they looked out their windows one day to see Larry removing the entire front of his garage so that he could take off for the day in his new plane!
But here’s the really amazing story behind Larry and Janet and their Ultralight plane. When Larry was 7, he looked up at the sky and promised himself that one day he would build and fly his own plane. And so he did. In his mid 50’s.
You see Larry and Janet are the kind of people who just don’t let their dreams die. Larry works in a mill, Janet works in education and they live their life by one very simple philosophy. If you want to do it, find a way to do it. If you have a dream, find a way to make that dream come true. Larry and Janet are Why Not! people.
They spoke with us about some of their friends who don’t live their dreams because they believe they can’t afford it; or because they believe that it’s not the right time; or because they believe that they have other more important things to do. Larry and Janet, on the other hand, don’t spend their life dreaming. They spend their life living their dreams. And they truly wish that other people would do the same. The world, it seems to them, would be a better place if we did.
What dreams have you put on hold?
How many of your childhood dreams have you abandoned because of some misguided notion of adulthood and what may or may not be expected of you?
What beliefs are standing in your way?
If you could do one thing – one thing that you have never done but have always dreamed of doing – what would it be?
Remember it. Dream it. Do it.
Imagine the Possibilities!
Thoughts? Comments?
I have been working since I was 5, babysitting my siblings and working in retail on weekends and after school. After graduating high school, I went straight to university (and still worked on weekends), and was recruited from university into a professional services consulting company. After 7 years, I moved out on my own and have been consulting independently ever since. I obviously inherited my parent’s genes, because they worked all their lives but unfortunately never really enjoyed the fruits of their labor before they past away.
This past Christmas, at the peak of my career, I made a spontaneous decision to take the rest of the year off and backpack the world. You are right. It’s never the right time, you will never have enough money, and if you think about the decision too long, you will never do it. So take that jump into the unknown every once in a while because you will regret never having tried.
I recently gave a workshop at a big chain grocery store and on their wall they had this poster with a great quote saying something about how everybody dreams, but only a few wake up and work hard to attain those dreams. Loved it!! I truely beleve everyone has that potential to achieve what they may feel they can’t. And I know too many that stay put in the mundane. Hopefully people like Larry, you and other great motivators will inspire more people to become the “why not” types.