Dreams have a cost. And some of the biggest payers are those you love. Here’s what you can do about the sacrifice those you love are making for it.
This week’s Inspire Me quote is from business leader Guy Kawasaki:
“Work the edges. What really matters happens at the edges – that is, where one surface or material meets or changes into another – is a key principle of architecture. The action is not in the centers or areas of sameness.”
Pursuing your dream is working the edges. That’s where tension lies. A natural tension exists between pursuing your dream and preserving comfort. Everyone has different risk tolerance and safety levels, principally around our time and our finances.
You may not be fully not aware of the sacrifices others make for your dream, particularly if your an optimist.
What can you do about it? Here are some suggestions:
- Acknowledge the sacrifice. Be specific in how their support advances your dream.
- Engage the power of volition. Sacrifice is made worse when there’s no choice in making it. Look for ways to make your dream a shared dream.
- Seek help to identifying choices. Things are seldom either/or. Our spouses can see things in different ways than we can.
- Stay within your stretch. Think journey not last step. Trial periods are good ways to warm up. Don’t overextend.
- Build off-ramps. These are the circumstances that may occur by which the experiment or journey is redirected.
- Stretch for their dreams too. Sacrifice is not one-way. Stretch yourself by engage in supporting their dream too.
This week’s Challenge Me:
Ask your spouse or significant other about their dream and how you can better support them.
Resources mentioned or related to this podcast that may be helpful to you:
- The light and dark forces of optimism, Episode 75 discusses some of the traps optimists face.
Ways to get involved:
- Leave a review for this show on iTunes and/or Stitcher Radio.
- Leave a comment or question below.
- Share this post with others in your network:
We look forward to hearing from you!
‘Corporate Welfare’, Leary?
Do you realize that without ‘corporate welfare’ workers, you would not have your corporations? And, without ‘corporate welfare’ workers, you would not have had your morning cup of coffee from Caribou, your groceries from Cub Foods, and your gasoline from Kwik Trip?
I think it would behove you to express some gratitude today – and every day for that matter – for all the ways that ‘corporate welfare’ workers assist you in making your life run so smoothly.
In gratitude for all employees and workers,
Vicki
Hello Vicki. Thanks for listening to our show and for taking me to task on my comment. 🙂
I thought my unexplained comment might ruffle a few feathers. I can assure you my intent was not to speak disparagingly of my fellow corporate citizens. Instead, my use of the term ‘corporate welfare’ was to describe that there is often little direct correlation between the amount of effort that people put into work in a corporate setting and the paycheck they receive. Solopreneurs and small business owners know all to well that if they don’t give one hundred percent, it shows up in their income. That drives them to “Sell, rather than be poor,” as a fortune cookie once put it. There is, no doubt, a certain psychological security that comes from having a regular paycheck—and nothing wrong with that—. For me, I prefer to be in environment where there is a more direct correlation between what I do and the rewards I receive (or don’t receive) as a result.
Personally, I agree with your salute of gratitude for corporate workers. They are most of my clients and my friends.