I recently attended an interesting family conference entitled “Rethinking Education”. The highlight for me was a presenter named Daniel Armstrong (www.FindATree.com) whose subject was “What’s Your Dream?”

Daniel has had a colorful and dynamic career. He studied political science at Columbia, law and business at UCLA. He served as an aide to former United States Senator Alan Cranston, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown, and former A&M Records President Gil Friesen. While a 6’-6” basketball star in college, his interests shifted to social responsibility which eventually lead him to work in Ghana. There he met a set of twins, Jonas and Jonathan Atingui, who dreamed of having a school of their own, but they had no money or facilities. Daniel advised them to “find a tree and start their school there.” These young teachers soon had nearly 100 students coming to their school under a tree. Seeing their success, a businessman in the community gave them a new building to use as their school.

Daniel realized that most people do not understand how to implement their dreams. In response, he wrote “How to Live Your Dreams: Find a Tree and Get Started”. He has been credited with transforming the lives of many young people, teaching them how to identify with their dreams and take the necessary steps toward achieving them.

During the course of his hour long class, Daniel took three eight year olds from “I don’t have a dream” to “I have a plan to pursue my dream”. In just eight minutes, one youngster went from “I don’t know” to “I’ll start a business washing and feeding dogs and earn $10 a week”.

The first dream you pursue may not be your life purpose. It may be a learning experience that this dream isn’t it. Then it opens a space to follow another path.

Daniel noted that he meets many college grads who don’t have a dream. They are just waiting around for something to happen to them. Some job that will allow them to survive. They are just keeping their body alive because their dream never had a chance. They never nurtured it to give it the opportunity to come to life.

How about you? Have you got a dream? If not, why not?

Filed under: Change

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