Stop Building in Your Imagination
Build in real life
To the deep thinkers,
Welcome to the Deep Thinkers Newsletter: A collection of essays dedicated to going beyond the surface.
If you’re new here, check out the Deep Thinkers archive.
Albert Einstein once said:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
Our imagination is a double-edged sword. It feeds the creative process and helps us solve problems. However, sometimes we can spend more time creating in our heads, rather than bringing our ideas to life.
Eventually, we must stop building in our heads and build in real life.
If you don’t act on your dreams they’ll stay locked up, withering away in the subconscious graveyard of your own potential.
Use your imagination to create reality, not escape it
I spent most of my twenties ignoring my dream of becoming a writer. But I imagined what it would be like. And this imagined version of myself and the life he lived stayed right where he was created…in my head.
But something changed a few years back. I saw what my future held for me if I stayed on the path I was on. I would work my 9–5, giving all my time and effort to someone else’s vision.
I’d do this until I was 65 and retired.
This vision of my future drove me crazy. I’d supposedly done everything right. I earned a degree in a field I was interested in. I’d landed a solid job. This was the dream, no?
Sure, this was someone’s dream. The problem was, it wasn’t my dream.
Instead of hoping that I would one day live my dream life, I:
began a daily writing practice.
shared my writing online.
invested in books and other learning resources.
I’m only at the genesis of my journey, but I now have clarity on where I need to go. I see that my imagination should fuel my desire to mold my reality, not to escape it.
Imagination and creativity
“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”
-William Arthur Ward
Imagination is essential. Every idea, good or bad, is born from it. Creativity is how you bring those ideas to life. At the intersection of imagination and creativity is where your life begins to shift.
Pull those ideas from your mind and place them in front of your eyes. Look at them from every angle. Write them down. Create an action plan for the life you want to live. You won’t know if an idea or a goal is worth pursuing until you act on it.
The ghosts of our past often haunt us. The things left undone. The words left unsaid. The dreams we’ve let wilt away.
Sometimes we use our inner world to escape this intense feeling of regret. But this can lead to even more suffering. Instead, use your imagination to mold your reality. After all, life is short. We’re here; and in the blink of an eye, we’re gone.
Stop wasting your time worrying about what others might think of you or stressing over whether you will fail. The opinions of others don’t matter and the only true failure is to never try. So try we must. Try because you never know where your dreams will take you. Try because you owe it to believe in yourself.
There will always be excuses
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
Henry Ford
The mind is incredible. While it is the source of great human innovation, it’s also one of our biggest adversaries.
On the journey of actualizing your dreams, you’ll have to face and conquer the voice in your head. The voice that doubts. The voice that puts fear over everything. The voice that feeds you excuses.
I don’t have enough time.
I don’t have the money.
It’s just not the right time.
You’ll always be busy. But everyone has 24 hours in a day, and you’re responsible for how you choose to spend your 24 hours. You either seize opportunities or watch your life pass you by.
Dreaming is great (I am a dreamer myself), but creating—now that’s where the magic happens.
Bringing your dreams to life
If you want to build an ideal life for yourself, you must be ready for a battle. Recognize and accept your current reality. It’s in understanding the current state of your life that you understand yourself and where to go from there.
If you’re unsure of how to go from dreaming to creating in real life, try the following:
Write down your goals. Be honest about what you want out of your life. Dream big. With sincerity, ask yourself: What do I want to spend my time doing? Sit with this question and make a list of your long-term goals. Then break those goals into smaller milestones. It’s in the small, consistent steps, not the long leaps and bounds, that we change our lives.
Acquire new skills. Visualizing and then writing out your goals is only the start. To build the life you want to live you must build your own specific skill stack (that is, a collection of skills you develop over time to make you more valuable). We live in an era where learning new skills is easier than ever. Take advantage of all the knowledge at your fingertips. For almost anything you want to learn you can find a resource online to teach you how.
Eliminate distractions. We live in an age of both information and distraction. Your inbox is calling you. Notifications won’t stop. Your social media feed offers you the next hit of fast-food dopamine to keep you scrolling. People you know are trying to pull you into their messy lives. Eliminating distractions takes practice and awareness. Don’t let anyone or anything throw you off your life path.
Dedicate time every day. If you commit to chasing your dreams, then you must show up every day. If all you have is 10–15 minutes each day, so be it. At least you’re doing something. It’s through consistency, that you unlock motivation, which in turn leads to momentum. And momentum is everything. Show up for yourself, because your dreams don’t matter to anyone the way they do to you.
Taking the first step
Set clear goals. Acquire the necessary skills. Eliminate distractions. Start here with your foundation and build from there.
It should be challenging.
It should hurt a little bit (sometimes it’ll hurt a whole f***ing lot).
But if it didn’t, would it be worth chasing?
Certain habits will have to go. Relationships might need to die. Only you know to what extent your life needs to change to reflect the life you’ve dreamed of.
If you ask me, it’s worth the effort—even if I spend the rest of my life trying to get it right. Because those castles in my head are exactly where I’m supposed to live. But building those castles starts with the first piece of foundation.
It all starts with the first step.
What stood out to me this week:
On awareness:
“If we focus on what’s going on inside ourselves—sensations, emotions, the patterns of our thoughts—a wealth of material can be found. Our inner world is every bit as interesting, beautiful, and surprising as nature itself. It is, after all, born of nature. When we go inside, we are processing what’s going on outside. We’re no longer separate. We’re connected. We are one.”
—Rick Rubin, The Creative Way: A Way of Being
On those that are meant to win:
Image credit: Zach Pogrob
🎵Song of the week:
Thank you for your time—feel free to let me know how this post resonated with you or share it with a friend:
Enjoy your weekend, and as always:
Stay blessed,
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥. So timely. Let’s create the life we desire instead of fantasizing!
This was meant for me thanks Jon. You’re in tune with what the universe wants to preach