Dreams… Clearer than Reality
by Jana Peterson
A series in which I write about some of my favorite quotes
It wasn’t too long ago that I discovered Simon’s beautiful little book, Together is Better, In which he tells a story of what it means to be a leader. Through both story and illustrations, Simon’s reader journey’s with two boys who are bullied at a playground that is fully enclosed by a brick wall. After being beckoned beyond the confines of the wall to discover a better way to play, they battle untamed beasts, raging rivers, and the risk of the great unknown before their vision of an unencumbered playground kingdom is realized, a place where there is room for everyone to play in a mutually beneficial way. And when their dream is realized, they remember the others at the first playground, including the playground bully, and go back to invite them into the same journey. Simon closes this powerful little story about leadership with an African Proverb, “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.”[1]
In the middle of his book, Simon makes the startling claim that “Innovators are the ones whose dreams are clearer than the reality that tells them they’re crazy.”[2] As someone who has lived outside the box since before I knew there even was a box, this line stood out to me as a blessing for all of us who march to the beat of a different drum.
Do you live outside the box of predetermined social norms? Do you have dreams that don’t fit your current reality? Do you have voices in your life (or in your head) telling you you’re crazy for imagining something new, different, and life-giving? In my own experience, when I give those voices power to name my reality, things don’t turn out well. I end up abdicating my agency, which is really just a betrayal to myself. The cost is simply too great. Instead, I choose to live with the confidence found in the old Chinese proverb that says, “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”[3]
And what if you weren’t even crazy after all? What if the world needs more innovators like you, whose imagination is bigger and wider than anything you’ve ever known? To me, that’s hope and if there’s anything this world needs more of, it’s hope!
[1] Simon Sinek, Together is better: A Little Book of Inspiration (New York, NY: Penguin Random House, LLC, 2016), 115.
[2] Ibid., 38.
[3] Chase Jarvis, Creative Calling (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2019), 53.