What to do When Your Dream Fails

FAILURE: to miss a personally set mark.

Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more … then he dreamed still another dream and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream.”

Is it possible for your dream to fail? Is it possible to take the reins of affairs, follow the formulas, cross the “T’s” and dot the “I’s”, and yet fail? I suppose it is very possible. Because of the various parameters that make for attaining any goal, attainment becomes subjective rather than an absolute.

So, then, what do you do when your goals fail? I would say, dream another dream. Get another vision. Build another plan. No matter what happens, do not give up on life.

Your success journey is like learning to ride a bicycle (if you have learned to ride one). One thing that is acceptably known by a hundred percent of bicycle riders is that they fell down – several times. Nonetheless they did not stop. They rose up, picked up the same bicycle and tried to ride again. If they stopped after the first fall they would never learn to ride. So in effect they accept that falling down is an integral part of riding a bicycle.

Most folks that can be termed successes had to dream another dream at one point or the other. This “another” dream may (or may not) be an extension and expansion of the initial dream. David started out with a dream of becoming a singing shepherd and ended up a warring king. Paul started out an adept Pharisee and ended up an apostle. Cup-bearer Nehemiah ended up a governor of a province. Have you fallen short of your initial dream? Dream another dream!

What matters is that you always have a dream – a reason to live. Dreams keep alive. They give you a reason to wake up in the mornings and to get headlong into the day. They give you hope. If you have dreamed before then you can dream again. Don’t let temporary setbacks keep you down on your back. Rise up and dream another dream. Keep this cycle going until you succeed – then dream another dream.