According to John C Maxwell, there are 5 reasons why dreams don’t take flight.
Ever since becoming a professional photographer it was always a dream of mine to have a coffee-table book, containing my photographs, with my name on the cover. I’ve achieved that goal – twice.
John C Maxwell’s reasons that our dreams don’t take flight are:
- We have been discouraged from dreaming by others.
The journey of my coffee-table book started long before I’d even taken the first photograph which would be included in the book. It started when I wrote a children’s story about our imagination. The story was seen by a friend who suggested I try and get it published. During a 3 year period, I sent the manuscript to Publishers only to receive one rejection letter after the next. The manuscript wasn’t well received with many of the letters quite brutal and frank. Quite discouraging actually, but there was a connection between my children’s book and my dream. I couldn’t give up.
2. We fall into the habit of settling for average.
I eventually found a publisher who agreed to publish my story but at the 11th hour, just as the final manuscript and illustrations were about to be sent to them, they phoned me to tell me they were going out of business and that they could no longer publish my book. I had 3 choices. I could look for another publisher, or, I could self-publish my book, or, I could give up on the idea and for the rest of my life tell people I was almost a published author. The last reason relates to me feeling average. I knew I wouldn’t be happy if I gave up so I went for option 2. I decided to self-publish.
3. We are hindered by past disappointments and hurts.
I don’t know how many rejection letters I received, but there were many. But, I’d received one letter from a publisher saying that they’d wanted to publish my book. I had the choice to focus on the many negatives or the one positive. I chose the latter as it was the better option for me to get closer to my dream.
4. We lack the confidence to pursue our dreams.
I had many sleepless nights once I’d decided to self-publish my book. At the time I was a photographer and I knew nothing about the world of (self) publishing. But as I learnt more about it, not only did my confidence grow but so did my excitement and enthusiasm. I realised that the pursuit of a dream is reached one step at a time
5. We are missing the imagination to dream.
I once read somewhere ” Happy are those that dream dreams and are will to pay the price to see them come true.” It’s something that’s stuck with me ever since. My philosophy is that no matter our spiritual beliefs, we only have “X” amount of time on this planet. I don’t want it to be mundane.
My children’s book – The Magic that’s Ours was published 18 months after I first decided to self-publish my book. 2 more children’s books followed. 5 years after my children’s book was released I realised my dream by publishing my first coffee-table book, “Down The Line.” In October 2017 I released my second independently published coffee-table book “Changing The Lines.”
The really interesting thing for me is that my latest coffee-table book wouldn’t have been published without the publishing of the 1st coffee-table book, which wouldn’t have been published without the publishing of my 3rd children’s book – The Journey That’s Ours , which wouldn’t have been published without the publishing of my 2nd children’s book – The Power that’s Ours, which wouldn’t have been published without the publishing my 1st children’s book – The Magic that’s Ours, which wouldn’t have been published if I’d bought into any of the 5 reasons mentioned above.
Following my journey, I qualified as a Coach and facilitate goal-setting workshops to help people avoid the 5-reasons – why dreams-don’t-take flight.
A more detailed look at John C Maxwell’s reasons can be viewed at 5-reasons-why-dreams-don’t-take-flight?
