Imagination: Your Ticket to a Dream

by John Maxwell from the book "Put Your Dream to the Test".

How do people discover their dreams? By dreaming! That may sound overly simplistic, but that's where it starts. Imagination is the soil that brings a dream to life.

You have to have it in you to dream. Businessman Howard Schultz, who came from a very humble background, used the fertile soil of his imagination to help him cultivate the idea of Starbucks, the company he founded. Schultz says,

"One thing I've noticed about romantics: They try to create a new and better world from the drabness of everyday life. That is Starbuck's aim, too. We try to create, in our stores, an oasis, a little neighborhood spot where you can take a break, listen to some jazz, or ponder universal or personal or even whimsical questions over a cup of coffee."

Who dreams up such a place?

I'd say that the more uninspiring your origins, the more likely you are to use your imagination and invent worlds where everything seems possible.

Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. It' never too late to dream.

If you're wondering whether the dreams of you imagination are likely to take root in the soil of reality, then start by asking yourself the following Dream Test Questions:

1. The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?

2. The Clarity Question: Do I clearly see my dream?

3. The Reality Question: Am I depending on factors within my control to achieve my dream?

4. The Passion Question: Does my dream compel me to follow it?

5. The Pathway Question: Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?

6. The People Question: Have I included the people I need to reach my dream?

7. The Cost Question: Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?

8. The Tenacity Question: Am I moving closer to my dream?

9. The Fulfillment Question: Does working towards my dream bring satisfaction?

10. The Significance Question: Does my dream benefit others?

I believe that if you really explore each question, examine yourself honestly, and answer "Yes" to all of them, the odds of your achieving your dream are very good. The more yeses you can answer, the more on target you are to fulfill your dreaming. I truly believe that everyone has the potential to imagine a worthwhile dream, and most have the ability to achieve it. And it doesn't matter how big or how seemingly outrageous your dream appears to others if your answers are "Yes" to the Dream Test Questions.