Post a grand opening ceremony, the FIFA World Cup was kicked off on June 14, 2018. Thirty-two teams qualified for this grand quadrennial football event. Of these, Iceland qualified for their first ever appearance in the FIFA World Cup. A tiny nation with a population of around 350,000 only qualified for the biggest footballing spectacle of the world. A tournament where countries thousand times its size like the US or India have failed to qualify.
How?
Luck?
No.
The power of dreams and the willingness to work hard to realize the dreams.
Picture this…Iceland have been continuously entering the World Cup qualifiers from 1974 – which makes it their twelfth attempt to play in the World Cup – 48 YEARS! They didn’t allow the defeats to drag them down. They didn’t lose hope. Most importantly, they didn’t give up on their dreams. The team management kept working hard every year to bring the country closer to realizing their dream of a World Cup qualification. And finally, in 2018 years of effort and countless hours of hard work paid off.
The reason why I spoke about Iceland’s qualification today is because when I was reading about their journey, I realized that most of us give up on our dreams too soon. Even if we really desire something, we tag a subconscious shelf-life to it.
Here is an interesting incident:
Pankaj (name changed), a finance professional approached me once and said, “I really want to get a job with a bank in Hong Kong. I will try for two years, if I don’t get one then I will look for something else. Can you help me fulfil my dream?” The moment he stopped talking, I realized that his dream came with an asterisk – conditions apply. I told him that I can help him realize his dreams but asked him if he was sure that working with a bank in Hong Kong truly was his dream? He gave me a confused look and said, “Of course it is! Why else would I be sitting here with you today!?”
Then, I asked him if it was his dream, then why was there a condition of two years on it? TO this he replied with a sneer and said, “I am not a fool to keep pursuing a lost cause, am I?”
The point that I was trying to make here, in case it is not already evident, is that the moment we allow conditions to creep onto our dreams, we tend to lose the focus required to turn them into our reality. We start making excuses and somehow those excuses sound like valid reasons to us.
If Iceland’s football association would have attached an asterisk to their World Cup qualification, do you think they would be playing in the World Cup today? Probably not. They dreamt of this and they made it happen! According to me, they are already winners in their own way.
In our life, if we truly desire something, then we can take a leaf from Iceland’s book and learn how not letting go and working on improving ourselves can almost certainly assure success. Now, I am not asking you to throw caution to the winds and blindly follow your heart. What I am saying is, if you truly want something, then don’t give up on it. If situations in your life demand you to take up a certain job / career, then do so but don’t lose sight of your dream career / job. And. Slowly but steadily keep working towards making it your reality.
At Change Ur Story, we believe in the adage: ‘A dream is not what you see in your sleep. It is something that does not let you sleep.’ We believe that all of us have dreams for our career but somewhere we tend to lose sight of them and adapt ourselves to whatever comes our way. If you are guilty of doing that too, then STOP! Give us a call and join our discovery sessions. Let’s start getting you back on track to realizing your dreams. You have one life to live – live it the way you truly desire.
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