Today, I was inspired. As an attendee at World Domination Summit 2013, I had the pleasure of hearing Nancy Duarte analyze some of the greatest speakers/speeches in history. 
This was followed by Darren Rowse and his take on Dreams. Not the kind of dreams you awake from during the night, but the dreams that burn in your soul and drive you to start a business, or write a book, or try something new.
In the afternoon, I was moved by Jia Jiang‘s story of rejection, as was everyone else as evidenced by the first standing ovation of the weekend. Chase Jarvis closed the day with his entreaty to live a creative life to solve the problems and crises we are seeing on a global scale.
What do these lessons have to do with veterinary consulting? Everything. When I look at what is happening in the world today, I see so many business paradigms shattered by change. Changes in technology, changes in the way the world works, and changes in people’s habits and personal lives—changes to our culture. No matter what business you happen to be in, attention should be paid to these shifts or you will be left behind.
I’m a dreamer, and a creative. Today, I was inspired the most by Darren’s take on dreams. I believe it hit home with me because he asked the same questions that Bash and I ask our clients:
- What do you want your future to look like?
- What needs to change?
Why ask these questions? As Rowse put it, “My dreams are not to be locked inside my head.” Dreams must be shared, not only to create accountability, but sharing your dream also creates a small army of people who encourage you and help you foster your dream to fruition.
My big takeaway came towards the end of Darren’s presentation when he said that dreams aren’t enough. We must also build two other things into our workflow: creation and completion. Without these two elements, our dreams remain simply that—dreams. Once you define your dream, build the creation process into your workday, even if it’s only for 15 minutes each day. Then work towards completing the project, turning your dream into a reality.
Why should I listen to Darren? Why should you? He’s someone who has taken his dreams and turned them into a big reality. Not only does he get 5 million monthly visitors to his blog, with more than 20 million monthly page views and more than 400,000 social connections, but he has managed to take his dreams, add creation and completion to his workflow to become one of the most successful bloggers in the world. I’m inspired to apply these principles to my workflow, aren’t you?