It is common to hear individuals, especially little children sharing thoughts about their dreams in life. I once asked my little daughter about her dreams and her response was simply amazing: “I want to be a nurse, so I can take care of mummy when she is old”. It was her desire and goals, and I enjoyed listening to her sharing details about it.

What's the true meaning of a Dream

When we talk about having a dream, it has nothing to do with sleeping in the night and having a nightmare of someone chasing you around. Those are quite different from what we are talking about. You don’t need to sleep in the night to know what you want out of life or how you want to go about it.

A dream is something you have a strong desire to happen in your life. Take note of the word desire. It is important we not just desire, but a strong desire for what we want to achieve in life. If the desire is not strong enough, it will end up just been a mere wish. A strong desire is like a fuel that powers a car. When the car runs out of fuel, it stops and can't move any further, until you refuel it.

A strong desire for something you want to see happening in your life is what keeps you awake at night and working so hard each day. It is like a stimulant and energizes your mind and keeps you focused on your set objectives.

A dream can also be described as having a strongly desired goal or purpose. Here again, we see the keyword desire. There are two other new words- goal and purpose. A goal is like a target you focus your attention on. In a game of football, on both sides of the pitch, goalposts are mounted and a goalkeeper keeps watch over the goalpost to ensure that balls do not cross the goal line.

The dream of any football player is to score a goal against the opponent. To ensure the ball cross the goal line of the opponent and to win the match at the end of 90 minutes plus stoppage time. Another keyword here is purpose. Your dream is incomplete without a purpose. There must be a purpose attached to your dreams in life. Someone who desires to become a lawyer must have a purpose for choosing such a career path.

When the purpose of a thing is not well defined, abuse becomes inevitable. Simply put, when the purpose of your dreams is not well defined, the desire to pursue and achieve your dreams becomes extremely difficult. When the purpose of desiring something positive in our life is well defined, the process of achieving it becomes easier.

Does your dream make you excited?

Growing up, we all have different dreams, but as we become mature and experience the reality of life, some of these dreams become discarded for something more tangible. The core feature of having a dream is the element of excitement it impacts on our lives. If your dreams do not excite you, then something must be wrong.

It's like a glowing flame that warms your heart and keeps you happy. You get that inner satisfaction and fulfillment from pursuing your dreams and seeing it becoming a reality. Every football player dreams about the World Cup and seeing your country qualify for the World Cup and your name included on the list of players to grace the tournament is what dreams are made of. That is what makes players so excited. It is not about winning alone, it is about achieving something significant in your career.