Why Getting An MBA Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be

I came across an old notebook I used to keep in high school and college of things I wanted to remember.  Truisms.  Or things that seemed that way at the time.  One truism that hangs over my desk at home today is:

Don't be afraid to attempt something new.
Remember, it was amateurs who built the ark.
It was professionals who built the Titanic.
Author: Unknown

My status as an amateur no longer seems like such a bad thing.  My lack of a MBA no longer a deficit.  No, my amateur status has put me heads above those pros who think they know it all.  Oh I admit, there are SOME things I could use additional education in, but the lack no longer seems as great as it once did.

My degree (a totally unofficial one) you see, is in dreaming.  I'm a world class expert in dreaming.  No, Harvard doesn't offer degrees in Dreaming or even teach a class on "How to Dream 101" and Yale doesn't offer a graduate program called MD (Master of Dreamology).  And I can't go to Stanford for a PhD in Dreams.  No, some things you just have to learn on your own--you either do it or don't. 

I mean, who would have thought Noah could build an ark and round up all those animals?  Or that Columbus was right and the world really wasn't flat?  Sometimes you just have to dare to believe. To take that chance, to tilt at windmills. 

The next time someone tells you something is impossible remember this from Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol where the Queen and Alice are talking.

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said.  "One can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.  "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Why as adults do we lose the belief in dreaming of and accomplishing the impossible? Why do we stop taking the time to dream and dream big.  Return to your dreams.  You know, the ones you've put away in the back of your closet or stored in a box under your bed.  Get them out, dust them off, and dream again.  Believe the impossible dreams--if it's good enough for a Queen...

Wonder, Magic, and Imagination

A man who flies. Without a plane,without wings, he floats above us all and his performance entrances us by achieving what most would deem impossible. While I know deep down there is a 'trick' to this David Copperfield performance, I can't help but be entranced and feel a kinship with him.

Not just with Copperfield's performance but his ideas about dreaming and imagination. You see, I was that little girl who wanted to 'fly.' I wanted to live my dreams. I still do.

I grew up rich in many things, but most of all rich in imagination and dreams. I'm not sure what was richer, my dreams or my real life. But my dreams helped me through times when like most children I felt alone, lost, or forgotten in the world. My dreams were my own personal therapist and my own personal guidance counselor.  They supported me and guided me whenever I needed it. 

This is probably why I devoured books - any kind, any length, any topic. I admit,I grew up with my nose buried in romance novels. Not that I didn't know they weren't 'real,' I did. I knew nothing was THAT perfect. I just believed in the magic in them. Most of all I believed in the magic of love, friendship and caring. I believed that by giving love to others I could work to effect change.

What was your dream? Have you achieved it? Did you grow up and lose your dreams? Or are you one of the lucky few who are living their dreams?

I believe in living your dreams. It's what makes life full and worth living. It challenges me to be the best I can be in life.  It's what I challenged my daughters to do.  What people in my life challenged me to do.

And while I never saw this video before today, I always knew for me one of the most important life lessons I learned is to try to achieve those dreams and to never lose them. It keeps the magic in my life and in my soul.  What would life be without magic, wonder, and imagination?

History and contemporary life both are filled with men and women who are living their dreams.  Are you one of them?

Becoming Your Dream

Most kids go through long lists of what they want to be when they grow up.  Sometimes their dreams are based on their parents and what they do, sometimes on wanting to change the world--but me, well, I wanted to be a Lion. 

Yes, I freely admit it, I was not too tightly wrapped!  You see I loved the way lions were always heard--their roar is unmistakable.  And I loved the idea of being king (well queen, but my ideas about gender specific royalty hadn't gelled yet so I wanted to be king) of the jungle.  And that great mane--almost the equivalent of having Farrah Fawcett hair but without dealing with the haircut and blow dry (I have to admit, today I still wish for great hair.)

My brothers and sisters told me 'You can't be a lion' which of course only made me want to be a lion more.  I was sure I would have the very BEST JOB! No boring fireman or doctor dreams for me!  I wanted to be powerful, brave and someone people listened to.  I was surprised when my siblings laughed (in fact they didn't just laugh, they roared with laughter) But I remained firm--LION--that was my career path. 

My sister told my mom to tell me I couldn't be a lion when I grew up--my sister was VERY REALITY based. Fortunately my mother told me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up. I felt I had triumphed! MOM WAS NEVER WRONG! (at least when I was five, when I got to be a teenager it was another story). 

But as I got older I decided maybe being a lion wasn't the best thing to be, maybe a wizard (remember this was pre-Harry Potter days, NO ONE wanted to be a wizard) or a dragon...or a unicorn.  I always had magical powers no matter what my career choice as a child.  As I reached middle school it was no longer cool to not be part of the crowd, so I spent some of those years with my nose buried in books.  I wasn't one of those kids who listened to all the same music my friends did (you're talking about a woman who didn't discover The Beatles until her thirties!), or who watched all the 'in' television shows.  I still insisted on being what my guidance counselor called 'different.' 

As I was looking for colleges to go to one of my siblings jokingly said "I guess by now you've decided not to be a lion"--still with laughter in their voice.  And while I realized I was never going to find a college with a major in being a lion, (I wasn't that divorced from reality) I decided I WAS going to be a lion in life. I was going to take the best qualities lions have and apply them to my life. I WAS going to be brave and take pride in myself. No one was going to need to tell me how good I was, I just WAS going to be the tops--I was going to be the best. And I wasn't going to live my life based on what other people thought, I was going to live my life the way I wanted to. 

I'm not five anymore, but I still dream, everyday, that I can be a lion in life. Friends got older and went off to more prosaic jobs--teachers, salesmen, mechanics, secretaries. And since I'm not five anymore I didn't grow up to be a wizard or unicorn or lion, but I still dream that I can BECOME a lion. I can be brave, treasure my dreams and try to live them. I can have strength and take pride in myself and who I am. And I try (in this peer pressure world) not to care what others think as long as I take pride in my work.

So in a way, I have become a lion. Just without the great hair! And everyday I thank my mom for telling me "You can be whatever you want to be," a very valuable life lesson for anyone--Thank you mom.