Recently, I have been listening to Seth Godin’s incredible book The Icarus Deception. I can’t say enough good things about how challenging, liberating, and inspiring this book has been for me — but today I want to say only one thing that I’ve taken away from this book.

Until something you’ve created is shared, Godin argues, you can’t truly call it “art,” because art is meant to be shared. On a similar note, I would argue that you don’t really want your dreams to come to pass until you speak them out loud — until you turn your deeply-held dream into an actual, achievable goal. I know what it’s like to keep dreams tucked safely inside my heart, where no one can laugh at my silly ambitions or scoff at me for wasting my time. But as long as I’m afraid to turn my dreams into actionable steps, they’ll remain dreams, buried under a thick veneer of insecurity posing as self-preservation. If no one knows my dreams, no one can dissuade me from pursuing them, I’ve rationalized.

But as long as my dreams remain secret dreams, I am dissuading myself from pursing them.
Speak your dreams. Maybe not to the world — maybe only to someone who will help propel you forward and hold you accountable to doggedly pursuing the dream. But whatever you do, don’t hide your dream under layer after layer of excuses and insecurities. In the end, they’re more disappointing than rejection. Because they’ll be proof you rejected your desire to chase that dream.

Chase away.

~ Laura