Choose your dreams

Isn’t Mo Farah great? A real success, whichever way you look at it. Winning both the 10,000m and the 5,000m in the same Olympic Games is the result of years of hard work, dedication and focus, and a great deal of natural talent.

But when Mo was a kid he wanted to be a footballer. That’s what he dreamed of, and even now he is one of Arsenal’s biggest fans. And as Brendan Foster remarked, he has seen Mo play football and he would never have been any good. Mo is a sporting hero, a real winner, but the first step on his path to success was making the right decision about which sport to pursue.

In fact, we are all winners. There is something that every person excels at; that, perhaps, could make them a world champion. But if we don’t make the right choice – switch our dreams from football to athletics – we’ll never reach that place.

It’s easy to think “it’s too late for me” and feel locked in to a career choice made as a teenager. Of course, in our 40s or 50s it wouldn’t be realistic to want to emulate Mo and win gold at the Olympics for running. But………don’t rule out those aspirations entirely; after all, equestrian medals were won by competitors over 50, and if athletics is your passion there are races for veterans. What really stops us from reaching our dreams, or even fully accepting that we have those dreams, are those devilish self-limiting beliefs, which tell us we can’t switch careers, pursue our passion or expand our hobby.

Are you breathing? Then it’s not too late to make a different, more authentic choice. Try saying “I can; I’m not sure how, but I can!” As a child, all I wanted to do was write. I worked as a journalist in my 20s but when life (divorce) got in the way and I wanted to freelance I didn’t have anything of my own to say. For 25 years I wove my way through a handful of other careers, like Mo trying to be a footballer. Luckily, being older isn’t a disadvantage for a writer; it’s really helpful! So now, finally, I’m shutting out the “you can’t do that!” voices and living my dream.

A good first step if you’re not sure what your dream is, or if you are but you don’t know what to do next, is to read “Screw work, let’s play” by John Williams, or visit his website. You’ll find some really practical advice and encouragement.

We can all be winners, if we make the right choice. Resurrect your dream, or find a new one, and encourage your children to dream. Dreams do come true, but as the song says, “If you don’t have a dream, how are you gonna have a dream come true?” You may need to revise your choices, but if you need to replace your dream, don’t replace it with the first thing that comes to mind, like I did so many times – find another dream, like Mo!