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How often do you allow what others say to drown your dreams?

Posted by helixia • 7/21/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: dreams, life direction, Vision

In the 1960s, at a time when Singapore still had large tract of kampong (huts and agriculture plots), Singapore's prominent leader SM Lee envisioned a Singapore with underground trains crisscrossing the belly of the city, providing a modern and efficient transport system. Many people laughed and said if Singapore dug a tunnel the whole island will sink. Well, construction of the Mass Rapid Transit began in the 80s, and it had been the envy of many asian countries.

from
finding-life-direction-life-purpose.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-live-your-d...

There are many great stories of one man's vision being better than a thousand men's opinions.

So how often do you allow what others say to drown your dreams? Why?

User Comments

7/21/09

searchingwithin

This is something that I am working very hard to not allow to influence me in anyway. I believe we spend too much time determining our own self-worth, and the value of our dreams on the opinions and influences of others. I believe we need to create our own beliefs, and not allow others to drag you or them down. I have found that most times, you should keep those dreams to yourself, and those that are working with you to create them.

[reply]
1. 7/21/09
  
  helixia
  
  Very well said, searchingwithin!
  I agree with you that we should keep those dreams to ourselves first while working out the baby steps to a certain stages when you need to work with somebody, or a team. Well, it is sort of protection for our dreams. When people see how motivated and confident we are, we get better support than a cold bucket of water.
7/21/09

MissSuzie

Never. I find that more often, I am right and everyone else is wrong.

[reply]
1. 7/21/09
  
  helixia
  
  Hi MissSuzie, you are very courageous. Remind me of the Google story, when the founders were building the search engine, people laugh at them, thinking there's no monetary value in it. Their passion to map out the virtual world has certainly generated them billions!
7/21/09

Rainhat

I categorically ignore anyone who tries to put me down. I've never given up on anything just because someone told me it was a bad idea. You won't get anywhere if you don't believe in your own ideas and have the oomph to run with them. Constructive criticism, on the other hand is great.

There's a thing in Sweden called "jantelagen" (the jante law). It's this attitude that the more someone tries to stand out and succeed in something, the more that person is scorned as a pompous show-off who thinks he's something special. For some reason, it's quite prevalent in the northern parts where I live. It annoys the hell out of me.

[reply]
1. 7/21/09
  
  harveyavatar
  
  sounds a bit similar to the "tall poppy syndrome" in Australia
2. 7/21/09
  
  helixia
  
  Hi Rainhat, that's a very amusing anecdote. So now I know this cold-bucket symptom is everywhere in the world. There are many reasons why most people would tend to be rather unsupportive. I truly admire your courage and your way of dealing with it.