Dreams are why we seek to survive and why we seek to progress. Dreams hold a promise for tomorrow.
For a dream to achieve full usefulness it needs to be tested, refined and put to work because on its own a dream is only a wish about life. It requires substance and definition in order to become effective for life.
It may come as a surprise, even to the most practical among us, how often dreams go unrealized because they do not get structured beyond concepts. The highest percentage we could find was 8% successful realization while all other information sources were even lower. That means at least 92 of every 100 inspirations never get beyond being a good idea. There are various reasons cited as to why they go unrealized, from lack of confidence to weak support system to insufficient resources. All reasonable arguments, however our experience is that lack of definition is the biggest culprit for unrealized dreams.
Definition is required that describes the basic mechanics of the dream and explains its existence. It is the deliberate getting to know the dream better and a simple who, what, where, when, how approach is the best place to start. Taking the time to answer the basic questions forces evaluation of the dream, and understanding it in more refined detail.
on its own a dream is only a wish. It requires substance and definition.
WHO does the dream benefit? A dream gets inspired to fill a need, so who benefits and what is their need that the dream addresses?- Begin with identifying the need that gave passion to the dream. For example, from our Nositeunseen hosting project the need began to be apparent when we observed website hosting selling under exaggerated promises and blatant falsehoods, and people buying under the presumption of truthfulness. Managed hosting was being purchased under the belief that everything was looked after only to discover a hacked website was not the host’s problem. Instead the website owner had to take care of the issue or else get blacklisted and have their site pulled offline. This and other experiences are how we arrived at identifying the need for fully supported website hosting. And by fully, that meant everything. Website administrators/business operators should be free to focus fully on their business without the distractions of website maintenance.
– Next, profile the target or object of benefit. From our hosting project experience we have identified those who benefit as business operators, business start ups, alternative or additional revenue seekers, and career changers. These are the business minded persons that are pursuing the practice of their livelihoods in order to sufficiently generating income. These are the persons pursuing their own dreams. Our dream addressed a need that was interfering with their pursuit.
– Finally, use the information gathered to build a value statement or value proposition. This is a brief and concise statement of what is being offered and how it will help a specific target group.
Example: “The NoSiteUnseen network is intended to support and assist both new and experienced business operators by providing a FULLY managed website system that ‘just works’ so that they are free to focus on their business pursuits as website administrators without the typical distractions and expense of website maintenance and upkeep.”
identify the need that gave passion to the dream
WHAT is the dream? A simple one or two line description is optimum to summarize what can be a very complex concept. The intention of this summary statement is to convey as much information as you can in as few words as possible. Key points are identified and selected as primary, secondary, and tertiary. These points are core identifiers that separate the dream from being easily mistaken for something other than what it is.Again, using our Nositeunseen hosting project as example the primary identifier would be that it is a fully managed website hosting system. The secondary identifier could be that it is built on WordPress while the tertiary identifier points to its operation as an interactive community.
The idea is if you can concisely say what it is, then you know what it is.
Example: “The NoSiteUnseen network is a fully managed, website hosting system structured upon the popular WordPress framework. It is designed to function as a supportive and interactive community comprised of website administrators, business operators, and the system’s developers.”
if you can concisely say what it is, then you know what it is
WHERE does the dream occur? Envision the dream operating and identify where it is taking place. Is it taking place in a building? Or is it more abstract and occurring in the hearts and minds of children? Perhaps it’s both. What’s required is to look beyond just physical settings or locations and really consider where the dream is having effect and affect, then compiling a list of those locations. Be creative and list as many locations as come to mind. The resultant information is extremely useful in building the dream into a viable reality.The NoSiteUnseen network operates
– on Linux hosting servers with dedicated and scalable resources
– on the Internet
– in Canada, the US and the UK
– among the business community
– among communities with a common or shared feature, like location
– in professional, back room and home offices
– on laptops, desktops, tablets and phones
– the list goes on…
Each item in the list serves as an indicator. Review the list to determine what is applicable and what may be redundant or of lessor consequence. Create a list of musts applicable to the dream.
Example: The NoSiteUnseen network must – be responsive in design because of various screen size devices – determine per site resources for scaling the hosting server
– have 16px/1rem font for readability in office lighting
– be English with future multi-language capability supported
– use SSL certificate for enhanced privacy and security
– this list also goes on…
look beyond just physical settings or locations and really consider where the dream is having effect and affect
So far a collection of useful information has been identified and sorted in the exercise of who, what where. Part 2 will explain the when and how dynamics of that information and explore the strengths found in asking the why.
