How To Create Meaning And Perspective To Start Building Big Dreams

Here’s the bottom line friends in this JKL community, I want you to be excited about your life. No matter how young, or old you are, I want you to be excited about the life that you are creating. 

The Meaning Of Life

And to me, the meaning of life question is “meaning.”

And I actually got this from Viktor Frankl, not just a Holocaust survivor, but as crazy as it sounds, thriver. 

Frankl believed that even in the most difficult and seemingly hopeless situations, individuals can find meaning in their lives. This is because meaning is the number one motivating force in human beings.

So What Is Meaning?

Frankl wrote that meaning can be found in three ways:

1. Through achievement by setting goals and working towards them.
2. Through relationships by giving and receiving love.
3. Through suffering by transcending challenges and emerging stronger.

Now, assume Frankl is right and meaning is the most important thing in our lives.

And then look at these three ways to find meaning. Through goals, relationships, and overcoming challenges. 

All three of these can be achieved through the pursuit of a big dream. Yet, so often when we hear the term Big Dreams we are probably thinking about little kids wishing on a star.

This Is For Everyone

Having worked in hospitals, jails, addiction facilities, and with seniors, I know how possible this is for people, no matter their circumstances.

People in retirement can create a life they always wondered about.
People with little time left to live are often capable of coming up with big dreams for whatever time they do have left.
Many are in side hustle mode, working in a career that they’re not sure about, but it pays the bills, so they try things on the side.
Or, perhaps you’re just in high school asking questions like “what should I do when I start adulting?”

The reason I bring up all of these examples and could bring up more is that I want to be clear that big dreams aren’t just for a preschool kid looking to become an astronaut or the next Lebron.

It is for all of us. It is for you too!

Don’t Let Other People Tell You Different

Big Dreams Are For Everyone

But many times people in our lives try to give us advice meant to “help us”, or keep us safe when in reality, it often keeps us from being fully alive.

It is very difficult to find meaning if we:

• Wonder what other people are thinking about us.
• Feel like we will upset others, or let them down.
• Follow traditions other people created for us.
• Learn only information from the past.
• Focus on feeling comfortable in our relationships.
• Have a sense of shame or guilt from people we look up to.
• Get anxious about sharing our dreams and goals with others.
  

We’ll get to some activities that can help us break free from these past experiences, but quickly I want to share one important philosophical point about “perspective” that can help too.

We Are Such A Small Part Of A Massive Universe

At the risk of sounding trite, I want to discuss how important perspective is.
It literally unlocks everything for the foundation of dreaming big.

If we can live with the mindset that we truly are insignificant, but in a good way, then it unlocks the power to a. Set a goal, but more importantly, b. Take action without hesitating.

Think about how old the universe is. 

Approximately 14 billion years old and while there are many theories as to how and when it will end, we can safely assume it will be billions more.

Yet, we are only in our physical existence for a minuscule fraction of this time. 

We have a window as humans in general.

And we have an even smaller window as individuals to try things.

Think about how big the universe is.

Whatever the biggest word for massive is, that’s how big it is!

Yet, any action we take literally has a domino effect on the entire universe. If you make one person’s day just a bit better, that is connected to everything.

This is so freeing because we don’t need millions of followers, we don’t need to worry about strategy, all we need to do is set a vision and take one small action at a time.

But first, how can we move on from all of those past experiences holding us back?

So What? Move On

We all have them. Many ambitions, desires, or dreams that have passed through our conscious mind that we did not take action on. 

You may consider them regrets, or you may not, but regardless they passed through your mind and you didn’t do anything about them. 

Writing down our past attempts, and allowing ourselves the space to figure out why we didn’t attempt these things in the past will train our intrinsic motivators to think a little more with our gut in the future.

What things have you thought of doing, from simple to wild, and didn’t take action on? 

1. Write down as many of them as you can. Don’t overthink, just let your mind flow. Write down any ambitions, or dreams you’ve had in the past that you didn’t pursue.
2.  Now, ask yourself, or free journal, “What do you think prevented you from taking action on some of these initial ideas?”
3. If you want, whenever we document the things that are a bit more negative in our lives a fun exercise can be to burn the paper, or cut it up and throw it out. But this is optional and of course, safety first! 

I hope that by understanding your meaning in life, developing perspective and moving on from past regrets that you are super fired up to start planning some ideas for your great life.

Thanks for reading. Your pal,
Justin @JustTries 

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