The distance between dreams and doing...

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I was a talking to a local businessman and as part of our conversation he said something to me in Italian. As I laughed and commented my Italian was rusty, he offered the English translation.

“The distance between dreams and doing is an ocean”

I looked at him, nodded knowingly, and we went on with our conversation. Like the next person, I love a good pithy saying and this stuck with me.

It almost screams, “Create a meme out of me and put me on Instagram. I’ll get so many likes”.

I have seen it first hand — the first place people with a good idea go is to visualize enjoying cocktails by the horizon pool as their bank account fills up from the profits from their idea. They seem to overlook the ocean they need to cross to get there.

I’m not here to debate the ocean or even explain it — other than to say this is a truism (and definitely meme worthy). I will say it’s an analogy of grand proportion and something to think about if you want to tackle a dream:

  • The ocean is vast and takes time to cross

  • The ocean is unpredictable

  • Smooth sailing and unpredictable seas are part of the journey

  • Sometimes your ship will take on water and even sink — only you can decide if you want to rebuild and head out into the open seas again

  • and countless other ocean references

For all those who dream — watch out for the riptide.

iamgpe

PS — I don’t plan to put this on Instagram.