Dreaming and Doing

It’s easy to get lost in one or the other. I go through phases where I’m addicted to dreaming—I create multiple worlds in my head or rant about how things could be better, all while lying in my bed or lazily complaining to my friends. On the flip side, I go through phases where I’m so lost in my work that I forget why I’m doing it. Work simply leads to more work and nothing meaningful changes. 

We see specialized dreaming and doing roles in business. A CEO vs. a COO for example. But regardless of where we land on an org chart, we all have both dreaming and doing responsibilities for ourselves.

While we might feel more comfortable with one role over the other, my gut feeling is we all have a Dreamer and a Doer inside of us. Much like a business, we're at our best when we have a vision and a plan for moving toward that vision. We might have a community of friends or mentors, but the responsibility begins and ends with us. 

Adopting a label of either a Dreamer or a Doer is a cop-out. Dreaming and doing are actions, not permanent states of being. We can choose to exercise both, or we can choose to make excuses for why our ideas never come to life or why we find ourselves stuck despite working so hard.