Scott Braden
For some of us, learning how to dream for the first time, or even learning how to dream again—anew and afresh—needs to occur. New ideas and new experiences give birth to dreaming. Ninety percent of our life is filled with the same routines and the same habits—the same old ideas and the same old experiences. Getting outside of the normal routines and habits is essential for inspiring dreams. For most people, dreaming is like a runner running an obstacle course—and they spend a lot of time analyzing and discussing obstacles to overcome, but dreaming does not focus on obstacles—rather it focuses on possibilities . Dreaming is throwing oneself into a forward direction; a direction loaded with remarkable power and rewarding experiences. Dreaming points us to the beauty and artistry of life and a lack of dreaming deprives us of the unlimited gifts that await us. I have always said that intelligence is two things—knowledge and experience. If you want to increase a person’s intelligence quotient—simply give them more knowledge and more experiences. And this is true for a person desiring to increase their dream quotient. Seeking new experiences that are out of the box and new ideas that are colored outside of the lines empower us to dream. Our young people today need us to dream. Our young people need to be taught how to dream. Educators, let’s challenge ourselves and our students to live bigger dreams than what we all think is humanly possible!