No Goals, No Glory
At Flourtown ATA Martial Arts we are currently discussing Belief as our training theme. There are six pillars of belief that we discuss in class. We are going to discuss two of the six now – Dream and Vision. It is the goal of Flourtown ATA’s Leadership to start Turning Dream into Visions
A Goal Is a Dream with a Deadline
Let’s start with dreams, a cherished ambition or ideal, for our children something they really want to be or do. Dreams are important because they are what gives us cause and reason to believe. The dream of playing in the MLB, NBA, NFL or MLS is what motivates our youth to go out and practice that sport with their friends. Notice when our children first have a dream like that they truly believe they will do it. It isn’t until a parent or friend starts to consistently tell them that is not likely going to happen that they begin to give up on their dream. Adults, who have had enough dreams shot down, tend to just give up when their dream gets hard. So, while dreams are important, they must be turned into visions. A dreamer alone will end up living in a life unfulfilled. Vision is the ability to foresee how things will develop in the future and plan for it. In the example of a child playing in the Majors – they would see the hard work and hours of practice it takes to master the craft. They would then start simply by playing that sport outside everyday. Then they would progress from playing with friends to adding sport specific training on their own time. They would ask to attend camps, seminars and additional training opportunities. As they get better they would seek out a higher class of player to train or practice with. Following this path or vision would enable them to work past the doubters or nay sayers, including their own parents, and keep working on the dream. Because now, they can see the steps ahead of them to achieve their goal.
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins
Too often parents, teachers, or mentors feel the need to “give a child a dose of reality”. Really, that is usually just a person that could not accomplish their dreams and tells anyone working towards something of value that they won’t do it. People that have accomplished greatness or lofty goals know that staying on the path and working hard will get you towards your goal. Lets say you dream and have a vision of playing a pro sport and you fall a little short. Then you played in college. If you fall far short you played in high school. There are far worse things we can do than consistently work towards something with maximum effort and intensity. Let’s encourage our children to dream and motivate them to turn the dream into a clear vision with some work clothes on. Rather, than feel the need to “give them realistic expectations”.