This episode's highlights.
- (01:17) What separates dreamers, doubters and doers?
- (03:42) The decision that will make the greatest impact
- (04:15) How to open doors to the things you desire
- (06:24) The major fear that stops many people succeeding
- (06:56) The two things that can leap you into success
Here's a question...
What separates people who succeed from those who miss out on opportunities?
What separates winners from those stuck on the starting blocks?
And, what separates those with unfulfilled wishes from those who live with the fulfilment of making dreams happen?
We’re going to discover the two things that separate the dreamers and doubters from those who go on to do great things.
Dreamers, doubters and doers.
There are three types of people in our world: Dreamers, Doubters and Doers.
The Dreamers
Dreamers have an idea of something they’d love to do in the future. Deep down, they know they could do it, but maybe they feel it’s not the time now. Maybe they’re too busy, not in the right headspace, or don’t have the confidence yet. Whatever the reason, they promise themselves they’ll do it one day. But will they?
The Doubters
Doubters lack faith in their ability to make extraordinary things happen. They may harbour secret dreams, but they push them down. Sometimes Doubters take out hidden resentments on others they see pursuing their dreams, telling them they’ll never make it, that they’re making a mistake, and may even go to great lengths to sabotage them.
Doubters may call themselves realistic, but although healthy caution can be useful at times, Doubters can be destructive to themselves and others.
The Doers
Doers may have been Doubters once, and they will certainly have been Dreamers at one stage. But, one day they decided to get started. Whether they’ve made it, or are on their way, they live with the fulfilment of knowing they’re taking action. They can be inspiring to others.
It’s worth mentioning that, in moderation, dreaming and doubting have a place, even though it’s doing that counts.
A healthy amount of doubt can help you think things through, encourage you to plan and make sure you’re making the right decisions. So long as doubt doesn’t have you living so cautiously that you never give yourself the chance to experience life the way you really want to.
A healthy amount of dreaming can encourage you to be creative, come up with new ideas and venture beyond what’s possible right now. So long as you don’t use dreaming simply as an escape from the present and don’t live in a cycle of wishing.
It all comes down to one decision.
Ultimately, dreaming, doubting and doing can be summed up in one word in terms of their end result.
- Doubters, dampen.
- Dreamers, delay.
- While doers, do.
This sounds blunt, but only when you are doing are you actually moving forward.
When it comes to making a choice as to which you are going to be, bestselling author, Paulo Coelho captures the way you need to think about the things you want to achieve if you’re going to move forward.
“One day or day one. You decide.”
What most people never do.
Action was embedded into the nature of Steve Jobs – who was renowned for revolutionising modern technology and making it both stylish and functional.
His achievements are well known, from founding Apple to officially establishing Pixar to being the primary inventor or co-inventor for 346 US patents.
In an enlightening video clip – that I always watch when I find myself dreaming or doubting rather than doing – Jobs reveals the one thing he noticed that time and time again opens doors to things people desire.
In it he talked about how – at 12 years old – he wanted to be able to build a piece of measuring equipment called a frequency counter. Being the ambitious person he was, he rang up founder of the then multinational Hewlett-Packard, Bill Hewlett, whose number was still in the Palo Alto phonebook.
When Hewlett answered the phone himself, Steve said he politely ‘hi’, told him about his project and asked him if he would mind sending him some spare parts.
Sure enough, Hewlett agreed and not only shipped the parts but offered him a summer job at Hewlett-Packard on the frequency counter assembly line.
Jobs said that, in his experience, he didn’t find anyone who hung up on him or didn’t want to help if he asked.
And, yes, Jobs was known to be a particularly persuasive character – and this is a useful skill to master – but the key lesson here is he had the courage to ask in the first place.
In the video, Jobs says, “Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask. And that’s what separates sometimes the people who do things from the people that just dream about them.”
He goes on to urge people to act and not be afraid to fail or to “crash and burn”.
Steve Jobs, of course, had failures but – critically – according to reports of his life, it seems he never saw himself as a failure. It was as if he saw failures as experiments or lessons necessary for revolutionary progress.
Will it be one day or today?
The fear of failing or crashing and burning can be what stops many people from acting or asking – That fear that something won’t work out, might hang up, that someone will say no, or that you might feel silly is just to big to warrant the risk of giving it a go.
But, the bigger question is, “what if…?”
What if does work out, what if they do answer the phone, what if they do say yes, what if they do take you seriously?
Is your dream worth the chance?
If so, there are two things that could leap you into success: The wise action you take and the bold asks you make.
The question is, will this be one day or today?
Key takeaways.
- There are three types of people in the world. Doubters, dampen. Dreamers, delay. While doers, do.
- The first thing that separates those who are most likely to succeed from those most likely to miss opportunities is action. In the words of, Paulo Coelho, when it comes to making things happen, it’s “One day or day one. You decide.”
- The second thing that makes success more likely is having the courage to ask. More people than you realise will be willing to help if you reach out. The question is, are your dreams worth the chance?