3/3/14

The One Thing Stopping You From Making Your Vision A Reality

Guest Blogger Ryan Bonaparte
This is a guest post by Ryan Bonaparte. He is a 20-something engineer, teacher, and aspiring inventor, and also dabbles in writing and learning about the world around him. He recently published a book, Crazy Enough To Try, and writes a blog about his searches for passion in his life and inspiring others to find theirs. 

Ryan interviewed me about my passion. Click here to read that interview.                                      
Sharing your passions is a great way to meet new people, to develop new ideas, and to just remind yourself why you do the things you do.

I've recently had quite a few conversations with fellow writers and creatives, as well as people in other fields about my projects, including Crazy Enough To Try. After each of these conversations, I've come away brimming with ideas. I've looked at how I approach writing, reading, creating, and any number of actions in a new light. I've refined my goals based on new insights. I've grown as a person and member of society.

During one of these particular conversations, I had a mini-revelation that really stood out. My friend was telling me about what she saw as the one of the largest advantages humans have over other species: the ability to communicate abstract concepts to each other.

From there my mind began to spin. It seemed like such a simple idea, but it really is quite extraordinary.


Let's do a quick experiment as an example.

Think of the wildest concept you can think of? Got it?

Could you tell someone about it? I'm guessing that after a few minutes, you could probably give them a decent idea of what you thought of, no matter how bizarre it was. This happens all the time when we relate our dreams to others. 

Our ideas are based on our ability dream up new solutions, concepts, and situations.

What really blew my mind was when I understood that realizing our passions and associated goals is often only limited by our ability to bring to bear the resources needed to grow them. I have numerous plans and ideas I want to see become a reality. But I don't have the financial backing, or the technical know how, or the business acumen to see them happen tomorrow.

What I do have, as do we all, are my words. I have my ability to tell others my story and inspire them into action. Can you imagine what the perfect communicator could accomplish by understanding the needs of involved parties and reconciling the differences? Can you see what someone with just a few words could do if given a large enough platform and an inspired audience?

As long as someone isn't hindered by a physical limitation in creating a product/idea/movement (no, you can't fly to Jupiter in a hot air balloon), the only thing stopping them is the lack of resources available to them. And that can be rectified by connecting with the people who do have those resources.

Take a few moments to really let that sink in...

Nothing is stopping you from making your vision a reality except your ability to communicate it effectively to the people who can help make that happen.

Communication is a skill that most of us could dedicate more time honing. It is the only thing that allows us to share what's going on in our minds with those around us. The more time we dedicate to developing good communication skills, the easier the rest of our goals will become.

So the next time you think to yourself, "I could do that if only I had the money..." what you're really saying is "I could do that if only I could inspire others to jump on board with me."


How has your ability to communicate helped you reach your goals?

5 comments:

  1. love this. And so true. You look at most of the major shifts in history and many of them were accomplished by men and women who knew how to communicate their ideas and conjure in the minds of others a common goal or purpose. Reminds me of famous words a great man once spoke - "I have a dream...". Because when all's said and done, what's more powerful than being able to communicate dreams and open new possibilities in the minds of others?

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  2. I really love the point you are making in this post. We
    are only a well communicated message away from getting anything we don't
    have! Brilliant!

    I had a great coaching session with my client recently. As I
    got off the phone, I literally screamed, "I LOVE MY JOB!" I love the ways
    I get to help people see through the fog and come out equipped. The
    solution my client came up with was based on shifting her
    communication approach to a problem.




    Thank you!

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  3. You are spot on Micah. Knowing how to communication your ideas in a way that rallies others to a common goal or purpose...that is leadership!

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  4. Thanks for sharing this with everyone, Julia. I really do believe that communication can break through many barriers and allow us to take what's in our minds and hearts and see it manifest in the real world.

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  5. Great example, Micah. Communication can bring others onboard and start movements that change the face of the world. It all starts with sharing our ideas with others in an effective manner.

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