Dream as if you will live forever!
January 3, 2008
Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die tomorrow!
James Dean
Do you know who is James Dean? I searched through Wikipedia to find out that he was an American film actor, and he is dead only at the age of 24, by a car accident.
It’s tragic, isn’t it? Someone who’s having a dream as if living forever, yet died in such a young age! But despite of his tragic end of his life, let’s looking at how his dream has made his achievement, at a such young age, he has filmed 8 movies and playing several times on the broadway stage and TV shows. That’s really an achievement that we can learn from, the power of dream and actions! I’ll let Wikipedia to summarize his achievement…
He was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only person to have two such nominations posthumously.
James Dean also has a bad beginning in life, he has got “moodiness and antisocial” during his childhood due to the death of his mom. Again, a story of limitation turned into advantages, he’s got a dream of acting very early in his life, dreaming big and aiming as he will live forever.
Here are 5 things to check if you’ve got a dream as if you will live forever:
1. Have you dreamed big?
Don’t you think we can achieve our biggest dream, given that we have unlimited time? Dream as if you will live forever talk about the goal that will take the best of you, all your resources, time and energy. Dream a big goal, something that even require you to live forever! Achieving half of your big dream is still much better than no big dream!
2. Have you involved others in your dream?
One of the secret of a big dream as if you’ll live forever is not to pursue your dream alone. In his book “25 Ways to Win with People” (check below), John C. Maxwell together with Les Parrot shared that our dream is not big enough if we don’t involve others. Here is what John say…
When the vision gets bigger than you, you really only have two choices: give up on the vision or get help
John C. Maxwell (25 Ways to Win with People)
That’s really the secret of a dream as if you will live forever, it’s the dream that you can share to others, it’s a dream that you need others to achieve it, hence it’s a dream that is able to be passed down to the next generations. The dream is still alive and progressing even when you’re no longer there, because there are other people continuing the pursuit of your goal!
3. Are you leaving a legacy?
Robin Sharma in one of his podcast, “How To Live Forever”! The first point he is mentioning is don’t postpone living, and the second point is making a contribution…
Greatness comes by beginning something that doesn’t end with you, by leaving a legacy.
Robin Sharma
That’s another way we can live forever, we’re making contribution that can leave forever, it can be the friends we have met, the people we’ve grown, the organization or business we have set up, the contribution we have made to the society and it can be the blog you have written. If you’re a blogger, leave a legacy through your blog!
4. Are you enjoying your journey?
Do you know one thing that most of the time takes away our enjoyment? DEADLINE! we rushed through things. It’s very normal to have deadline for everything in this world, it’s good on how it can drives us out of procrastination. But living your dream as you will live forever also means that you’re enjoying your journey! no deadline to meet! Don’t let your dream burden you! Enjoy the pursuit of our dream, not comparing to one another, not thinking hierarchy but journey!
5. Do you live each day your best?
The quote doesn’t end with dreaming as if you live forever only, the quote ends with a request we need to do, to live each day your very best, as if you’re gonna die tomorrow! Dreaming big doesn’t mean we’re forgetting today! Morrie Schwartz in the book “Tuesdays with Morrie”, when being asked about a perfect day, surprisingly mentioning a very simple life, where he’s still doing his hobby, dancing, enjoying the nature, and spending time with his best friends! That reflects what is important to you! Do also what is important to you that you can do today!
In Conclusion
Instead of letting life act on us, dream a big dream, and making progress towards your dream, each day to be given our best, everyday as we’ll die tomorrow!
Here is a very good statement Robin got from his father…
Robin, when you were born, you cry while the world rejoice. Son, live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice.
Robin Sharma
New year is always being related to dreams and goals, now review your dream with the checlist above, make a commitment to dream as if you live forever, and live your best everyday. What’s your dream? How will you apply the 5 questions above to pursue your dream? Please share your thoughts in the comments as well!
All the best!
Robert
Resources:
Robin Sharma’s Free PodcastPopularity: 52% [?]
Like this article?
Reason-4-Smile delivers attitude and personal development insights,
turning limitation into advantages and helping you to be successful.
Keep updated by subscribing! (What's this?).
Digg it!
Stumble it!
Bookmark it!
11 Comments-->
Dream as if you will live forever! — Reason-4-Smile Weblog…
Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die tomorrow! James Dean
Don’t you think we can achieve our biggest dream, given that we have unlimited time? Dream as if you will live forever talk about the goal that will take the best of you,…
[...] We don’t really gather or having meal together that often, and it’s really surprising that we both have such a commonality. Our characters are different, for example, Lydia is a very outspoken and hilarious women, that can make anyone around her laugh so much! Our passions and interest are also different! Yet we all dreamers, not only small, but big dreamers, dreamers as we will live forever. [...]
Beautiful post! Thank you.
I especially resonate with the part about sharing dreams. I find my dreams be very lonely ones if they’re all about me.
I remember hearing a lecture once. It was about a man who wrote a book about how people heal. He interviewed lots of people to see what they had in common when healing from a serious disease. Some people used herbs, some drugs, some chemotherapy, others did nothing. What he found was that, regardless of the healing modality they used, the people who were most likely to heal were those who identified with something bigger than just themselves. In the words of your post, those who included others in their dream for living were most likely to live.
Really interesting perspective, here. So many people, myself included, struggle with living in the present while dreaming about the future. Your approach encourages us to embrace all the time in the universe and act as if we have access to it all. It feels very empowering and hopeful. I look forward to you sharing more about this in the future.
@Sol, thanks for sharing the interesting story, it’s so amazing that involving and giving to others also increase the chances of living.
@Maria, glad that you like my article, enjoy your everyday life while pursuing your dream… make each day the best day of your life. Thanks for the expectation, I will do my best to share more about this in the future, please do subscribe to my RSS feed to keep updated.
Thank you so much for the comments,
Robert
Some great thoughts there Robert.
Thanks Karen!
[...] Dream as if you will live forever! (7 comments) [...]
[...] Dream as if you will live forever! (8 comments) [...]
[...] Quote. Here is an article triggered by a quote from James Dean: “Dream as if you can live forever!“ [...]
[...] Quote. Here is an article triggered by a quote from James Dean: “Dream as if you can live forever!“ [...]