Stop Telling Your Big Dreams to Small Minded People .....

Too many of us share our dreams and aspirations with the wrong people. DO NOT share your big dreams with small minded people. No matter how hard you try to sell your dreams to them, they just will never get it. Their small minds cannot just comprehend the materialization of your big dream. It’s beyond their imagination. No matter how hard they try, they simply can’t see past their little imaginations.

When Suzan was in her final year in the university, she developed a strong love for makeup artistry. While she took normal college classes on weekdays, she will travel on weekends to Lagos for makeup class.  Although the makeup industry in Nigeria back then was still at its very early stage, she saw a career for herself in makeup artistry. She excitedly shared her dream with some small minded folks. Oh no! She wasn’t expecting their negative reactions. Like my Naija people would say – “She never Hespererit”. Supposed friends made comments such as “You can never build a career as a makeup artist, not here in Nigeria”. “How many people would be willing to pay a makeup artist for their

 wedding” “What is so difficult in applying makeup by yourself” “You are wasting your time and money”. . .  These people just didn’t get it. Suzan went for her dreams and currently runs her makeup studio - FaceCraft by Suzie.

Small minded people see impossibility in everything. They are too scared to dream big for fear of failure. They would rather stick to the status quo – their comfort zone. Unfortunately, they need company, so they try to convince others to come sit with them.  There is a reason your dream is yours and yours alone. God gave it to you and not to them. No matter how hard you try to convince the small minded folks, it’s a task in futility. They just won’t get it.

Omolabake Bode-Matthew, CEO, Fontaine De Vie shared a very inspiring story at the “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Boss” Conference. She told of how she shared her business idea and dream with her father, who immediately caught the dream and then started envisioning how much she could grow the business to compete with the big players already in the market.

 He was already seeing the growth of the business years ahead, including structures, infrastructures and resources that will be needed. I tell you, it takes a great mind to think like this.

When you share your dreams with great minds, they will enlarge it for you. They will help magnify the possibility of success. Even when fear and uncertainty sets in, they will lend you their wings to fly. They will help you see through their own eyes the certainty of success.

Be careful who you share your dreams. Identify the naysayers and blacklist them in your “no-sharing” list. Identify your dream builders and keep them very close.

 Never share your big dreams with small minded people!

#StayMoretivated

WHILE YOU WAIT, PREPARE!!

You may eventually get that opportunity that you have been craving for, but what happens when you are not prepared to take on the responsibility that comes with the opportunity. The only thing worse than missing an opportunity is not being prepared for an opportunity.

In my early years in the university, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar. While I do not remember the name of the speaker, nor the venue, and neither the title of the speech, a quote by the speaker struck a chord in me and has been playing in my head ever since. The quote says “When preparation meets with opportunity success is inevitable”. 

So often I have heard people say “If only I can get this” “If only I can have that”. While it is good to dream and have something you are aspiring towards. The question is what are you doing to ensure that when you get that thing- Money, job, audition, contract . . . you will be able to make effective use of that opportunity to transform your life. That opportunity may be your only chance for a radical transformation. You lose it, you lose all.

As a Life Coach, I have had the opportunity to coach clients with lofty dreams that they want to achieve. I never tell them to shrink their dreams to a perceived reality. I am never for less, you know I am all about being MORE. All things are possible with the right belief system and the right steps of actions. However, what I often find perplexing is when clients with these dreams have absolutely no idea on what steps to take to achieve these dreams. My job as a coach then is to direct them to start thinking towards that direction. One of the questions I would ask is - What do you need to do to get from where you are now to where you want to be?

In my first year of graduate school, I knew my summer was going to be boring and eventless. I had spent the previous summer eating, sleeping and watching movies and ended up adding so much weight within three months. I was determined not to spend another summer wasting away, so I fervently started seeking for summer internships. I eventually never got any internship but then I heard of a 2 weeks entrepreneurship boot camp in a remote location. Since I was looking to go into entrepreneurship anyway, I applied and was accepted. After returning from the boot-camp, my Program director who was aware that I attended the boot-camp heard of an entrepreneurship facilitator position for a 2 weeks summer boot-camp for high school students. She nominated me and sent my name to the recruiting personnel and without any interview I was selected. The boot-camp I attended, prepared me for this opportunity which I never could have gotten if I was just sleeping and eating my summer away. Of course, I made some cool cash that summer!


The role of preparation can never be under or over estimated. What are you doing each day to prepare for your day of opportunity. Take a class, read a book, volunteer, mentor someone, learn new skills, make new friends, attend workshops and events, ......do anything as long as it is preparing you for the day your dream will get actualized. Wake up each day with the question: What can I do today to prepare me to become (state your dream, goal, vision or the opportunity you seek).


I know someone may be thinking but “I have been doing all these things but it seems the opportunity never comes”. Hang in there, opportunities come when we least expect, we don’t know when but it will surely come. Remember the story of the ten virgins in the Bible. The last thing you want to be is unprepared when that much anticipated opportunity comes.

SUCCESS is what happens when PREPARATION meets with OPPORTUNITY.