How to Think Big and make your Dream a Reality
[Applause]
good afternoon everybody today i’m going
to share a tour with you that has made
my dreams a reality
and i believe it can make yours too but
first let me start by asking you a
question
we all have a dream
some of us have a really bold dream that
we barely admit to ourselves or we don’t
share with other people and the fear of
not achieving it
do you have such a secret dream
a few knots love it
so as a child one of my dreams was to
have the courage to be able to support
other people
i grew up in nairobi kenya in a large
chaotic household filled with many
cousins and many elders
and as you can imagine there was always
some crisis going on
i dreamt of having the confidence to go
up to my elders and ask if i could
support the ones in the crisis
can you imagine a shy child sitting at
the back of the classroom
really frustrated because she could
barely speak up with a bold dream to
support other people
well
she’s standing here right now in front
of you and speaking to you
richard branson
and jeff bezos say they always wanted to
go to space since they were little kids
malala dreams of supporting education
for all children in afghanistan
we all have a dream
and i invite you again to reconnect to
yours
in order to achieve our dreams we have
goals and we have resolutions but we all
know these are often not followed
through
and in fact forbes reports that it is
only eight percent of people that set a
new year’s resolution that goes ahead to
accomplish this
so why is it that we sometimes give up
on our dreams
we can give up if it gets too difficult
or we hit an obstacle
or we don’t believe we have what it
takes
sometimes we give up because other
people tell us our dreams are too
ambitious
so here is the tool i promised you
earlier and the tool is this
when setting a goal
expand your purpose from me
to we
this is a complete regeneration of how
we think and how we act
by contributing to others we get to
fulfill our own dreams
what a great way to move forward in a
post-pandemic world
so how does from me to we help you to
achieve your dreams
first of all your goal will have
significantly more meaning
secondly
by focusing on others it will get you
out of the negative stories in your head
and thirdly it can really help you to
overcome obstacles when you’re focused
on others
all of this gives you a better chance of
being in that eight percent of people
that do achieve their goals
so coming back to my dream
i had a critical obstacle as soon as my
dream was formulated
i was a shy child who lacked self-esteem
if i ever had to speak up
or confront anybody i would get really
anxious and my voice would really start
shaking
i used to really envy all those brave
kids who could shout across the
playground or take a leading role in a
play or speak up in a whole classroom
as a child i could never do any of those
things
and it was really frustrating for me
because intelligence and grades were
never a problem for me
i remember one day a chemistry teacher
looking at me and saying
she can’t lead that project
i felt so heartbroken and crushed
it occurred to me in that moment being
shy could also stop me from achieving my
dream
so i decided i was going to do something
to overcome it
i bought confidence books i went for
personal development workshops i bought
voice coaching cds which i still have
and practice and i even took up acting
classes
it wasn’t easy and i continued to
practice
and as we all know transformation
requires a lot of practice
this helped me quite a lot
when i was a teenager i once saw a
personal development coach speaking on
stage and it really moved me
i immediately knew that’s how i wanted
to support other people
this was a complete magic moment for me
i decided i was going to help other
people with everything i had learned
about becoming more confident and
following your dreams
i had changed my purpose
from me
to we
and this changed everything for me
when i was focused on others i wasn’t
thinking about how i was feeling or any
shortcomings that i had
another example i can give you where i
have really experienced me to rework in
my life was when i was in kenya and i
got covered
i was so scared as i had really severe
symptoms and i was feeling really really
poorly
this continued for a couple of days
until
i realized i ended up passing it to my
mom the one person we were trying to
protect and she has a lot of underlying
conditions
suddenly all the things that were
bothering me no longer mattered
i spent 10 days in isolation with my mom
and 14 days in a hospital room
none of the things that were bothering
me before mattered for example i was
sleeping on a sofa bed the whole time
i couldn’t eat properly i was feeling
poorly myself and i was really scared
none of it mattered as was so focused on
my mom’s recovery
this was a really big transformation for
me
one where i saw how being focused on my
mum got me through my own fears and my
own weaknesses
in fact
i found a resiliency i didn’t even know
i had
so how do you know that you’re focused
on we and not on me
a way to know this is to think about how
your goal can impact other people
it can impact one person or it can
impact many others
and we can use the acronym new n e w
as a way to apply this tool
and i’m gonna give you two examples of
how you could apply this tool
so in the first example n what’s
happening now
say you decide you want to become a
doctor
e
how can you expand it
you decide you want to heal as many
people as possible
or you might decide you want to create a
whole new healing modality
w
widen it how could your goal impact
other people
by having better health people will be
able to live longer and have better
lives
another example
and
what’s happening now
say you decide you want to become fit
and healthy
e
how could you expand this
by becoming fit and healthy you decide
you want to be more productive you want
to have more energy you want to be more
creative and most importantly
you want to show up in a much better
mood with your friends and family and
co-workers
w widen it how can your goal help other
people
it can help others because when you show
up more productive and more energetic
you will be able to create more
adventurous experiences
thereby expanding all their horizons
and imagine if in the process you
inspired them to become fit and healthy
too
richard branson the founder of the
virgin group has decided to expand his
purpose he wants to open up space travel
so that others can benefit from it too
malala is the youngest person to win a
nobel prize at the age of 17.
she was shot at when she was 15
and despite that she continues to follow
her dream for all children in
afghanistan
this just goes to show when your purpose
is wide it can help you overcome
obstacles and fulfill your own dreams
so to conclude
i would invite you to use from me to we
every time you set a goal whether
business or personal
use from me to we to get into the eight
percent of people that do achieve their
goals
in my case
i have transformed several times i have
changed countries i have changed careers
and i have learned to speak up
for anybody who has ever experienced any
shyness you will know what a big thing
that is
each time
my focus has been on other people my
transformation has been more successful
and more rewarding
and so finally i would like to leave you
with these two questions
number one
what is your secret dream
and number two
how can you apply me to we on that dream
to make it a reality
[Applause]