Being Crazy Enough To Defeat Distractions and Manifest Dreams Into Reality

Successful people are “crazy dreamers.” They’re just built differently. They got the swagger for success. The best part of it all? They’re pretty hardheaded and don’t take “NO” for answer. They’re life’s greatest gamblers and despite all the odds, they’re crazy enough to pursue the impossible dream. They live by the idea that intentional work, determination, and a little sprinkle of good luck fuels success beyond the limitations of perceived reality. In today’s episode, we dive into the mindset of high performers and what it takes to achieve the impossible dream.

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Transcript

How’s it everyone, my name is Mike Cabuco, and welcome to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast, your creative space for amplifying greatness through gratitude.

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Before I die, I want to "blank", insert dream here.

 So dreams. You really can't have too many of them and I think it's safe to say, yea, we’ve all had them. Some big. Some small and some that are kind of in between. And in a sense, when we were kids, we tended to dream bigger and we were encouraged to do so and really, there's really nothing to be ashamed about that.

 Yet as we grow up, we adopt more responsibilities and then we lose the excuse to act like a kid. We wake up, we experience a multitude of ups and downs, and then we realize that some dreams aren't meant to be. However, if you’re like me and you just don’t take no for an answer easily, I think it’s fair to say that we still move through life to dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe. To bear with unbearable sorrow. To run where the brave dare not go. Ahem. Well thank you for the love notes Mr. Sinatra.

 And "dreams" these days, sometimes it gets a bad rap. It's often associated with gullibility and for being too childish. And it’s all fine and dandy when you’re young. You could be a kid and tell your parents or teacher, I want to be an astronaut and fly to the moon! And they'll say, well that's a great idea! If you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything! And here’s another one, no one would dare shoot you down if you said that one day, I'm going to be a professional soccer player and play in the World Cup! It’s totally doable. You can be whatever you want to be!

 And then you grow up and depending on your environment, that level of encouragement can either skyrocket to the moon or start plummeting downward to the deepest depths of the Earth’s crust. Statistically, you end up encountering individuals that didn’t achieve their dreams and rather than telling you what you wanted to hear, they tell it to you straight and say, “Kid. You’re dreaming. Maybe do something easier? Maybe aspire for something more reasonable and attainable? Maybe just throw away the grand ideas and turn down those expectations will you?

 And, logically, it’s hard to admit it, but they’re kind of right. So, here's a fascinating study. As of April 8, 2020, NCAA Research identified the probability of how many students actually go pro. So for men's basketball, out of 18,816 NCAA participants only 4,181 athletes were draft eligible and out of those that were eligible, only 52 of the athletes were drafted. And the percentage of the NCAA athletes to go pro was a whopping 1.2%, which represented the 50 athletes ready to rock and roll. That's pretty much how many people were in my high school graduating class back in Wheatland Union High School.

 Well. That's a pretty quick way to kill an athlete's motivation to pursue their dreams. Yet, I'm going to make a strong assumption here. If you asked the 50 athletes that made it pro, the question “If you knew the statistical probability of becoming pro, would that be enough to stop you from pursuing your dreams? I'd say, a resounding 98% of those athletes would say, "I knew they said it was impossible, but I knew it was going to happen."

You really have to be a bit crazy to be a big dreamer. 

Bigger goals require bigger risk and I believe that everyone that wanted to max out their PRs really had to go to a place where only a select few were willing to go. And I’m not dismissing Baloo and the bare necessities of life, but I can’t think of one, profound, highly successful individual that didn’t operate without a winner’s mindset. I could name a handful of people that I look up to and their stories of how they achieved their greatest dreams share great similarities. They lived and bled for their goals and I’m not saying that melodramatically. I know they sacrificed and/or delayed the expectations of a normal life. And I know they had to intentionally postpone the life events that we typically associate to the normal American life. I mean like delaying family or even settling down, or even sacrificing a comfortable life.

Yet, beyond the accolades, what made them successful was that they were able to navigate between the worlds of extreme requirements and lifelong stability. And at that level it’s a fine dance. It’s hard, but they knew how to dance between the push and pull to dance around the shards of glass and to know when too much is too much and when it’s really time to de-load and chill out.

But yea, dreamers, you might not admit it, but you people are kind of crazy and if you think you’re alone, you’re crazy to think that as well, because I’ve got my hand held up so high that it could probably reach over the great wall of China. I’m kidding, but every day, I have to remind myself that I’m not the only person crazy enough to pursue goals that just seem downright impossible.

I wake up every single day living my life with the intention that my goals are going to happen. And some people would say, well, so what you’re saying is that you’re trying to manifest your future into existence? You’re trying to harness the energy of the universe and think your dreams in existence? And if this all sounds a bit make believe, well, you might be correct especially when dreams are used in the wrong context.

So the idea of manifestation, the idea of thinking your dreams into existence, is nothing new, but just like any great piece of advice, the more it gets passed down through generations, through the social media feeds, and of course through all the jokes and memes, the more the idea loses it shape and fundamental meaning. It gets morphed into what people think it describes rather than what it actually means.

Actually, you know what? Come to think of it. This me reminds me of the causality versus causation episode I did a few weeks ago. So if you recall, when we look at two related events, there’s a tendency or let’s just say, a temptation to create an association of causation through correlation. And correlation, the relationship between multiple events doesn’t necessarily drive causation or the action of causing something. For example, I love watching basketball and soccer, but just because I love it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m good at it. Just because I love a subject doesn’t automatically make me a master of it.

So the problem with just manifesting or dreaming things into existence is that it relies on the fantasy of expectations. And now I realize why non-native English speakers think our language is so complex. And to dream, to have a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal. Thank you, Oxford dictionary, is just that, a dream. It’s like fuel that is sitting in a container. By itself it doesn’t really do much. And it actually looks kind of boring and the same goes with dreams. Dreams don’t do anything by themselves and it’s not enough to just dream. To manifest your vision into reality, well, it requires you get wild, go crazy, and believe that intention will move you towards your destination.

And you know what? It actually reminds me of something that Chris Bumstead said recently. His motto is “Dream With Intent” and it’s a really great saying because to him, the word “dream” doesn’t necessarily mean fantasy, but rather “objective.” He believes in the idea that language is powerful and how we perceive language can move us forward or hold us back. When he says, “Dream With Intent”, he means to dream with purpose and it shouldn’t be easy. It shouldn’t be comfortable, and it should force you to a place where you need to adapt, survive, and find the courage to execute on command the necessary work needed to obtain your life’s vision. That’s a powerful way to look at life and I 100% believe that defining your dream into existence can be done through intentional action.

Now, getting comfortable with letting go is tough. It’s hard to accept that you can dream all you want without limits but realize in the end that there’s actually a limit to what you can accomplish. That’s where reality kicks in and we really have to consolidate what makes us feel alive. Our resources are limited. Your time. Your money. Your energy. All of it. It’s the currency of life and at some point, some goals need to go to ditch the distractions, and give us space and time to focus on what makes us feel alive.

For example, a few days ago I almost caught myself slipping up again. I don’t think I’m over it, but I still have a major car addiction. Yea. It’s kind of a bad habit. To be honest if I had all the money in the world, the first thing that I would do is replicate Jay Leno’s garage with all of my favorite cars. You name it. A 1956 Aston Martin DB5. 2013 Ferrari 458 Italia. A Mercedes Benz AMG GT Black Series. Of course the legendary Godzilla itself, the Nissan Skyline R34 GTR V Spec 2 in Bayside Blue and my go-to daily driver, a Porsche 911 GT3 Touring in white. And the list goes on and on and on and on. And my garage would be fitted with all the tools in the world, with multiple bays with lifts installed, and everything I need to build up some badass project cars. And there’d be a second-floor mezzanine that overlooks my entire car collection and it’d be spec’d out with mid-century modern elements and furnished with Herman Miller furniture. And it'd be a place where I could chill and throw kickback parties for my friends and family to unwind, dine, relax, and have a great time. And it would open up to a balcony, out back, where I’d have this outdoor kitchen with bbq pits and stone ovens for making pizza and the view from the balcony would be epic. You would get this chateau style view where you could see miles upon miles of rolling hills of vineyards. But wait there’s more! Hold on there’s more! Don’t forget about the indoor weight training room, swimming pool, and basketball court.

Woo! And that my friends is how you dream! Hahaha.

But that’s what I’m saying. It’s okay to dream. It’s free to dream. But that big of a dream comes at a price and it requires extreme focus.

Keep your eyes on the prize.

At this point in my life, the dream cars and the dream garage are all just really a distraction. I’m not saying they’re impossible to obtain, but they are a distraction from what I really want to accomplish right now in life. So right now, I’ve accepted that now is not the time to start acquiring dream car after dream car. Now is not the time to spend money on a custom garage. And now is not the time to distract myself from my top dreams that really matter the most to me.

Fitness, family, and Love Notes for Life. Those are my top three dreams and will continue to be my focus until the end of time.

 I look forward to witnessing the Love Notes for Life brand to exceed my expectations and become a platform for individuals to seek their own inner greatness. While it sounds over-ambitious right now, I know it’s going to happen not just because I think it will succeed, but I really believe that the Love Note for Life brand can inspire people to dream with a purpose. It transcends my own experiences and extends to anyone who is crazy enough to dream the impossible and pursue it until all options are exhausted. I really believe in the mission statement, my purpose, and the vision that I’m building with you all.

And that’s why I’m willing to keep pushing this dream forward even if the progress is just a little step forward. Because when I zoom out, I can see that the brand is growing and ultimately, I’m growing from it and I hope it goes beyond me because that’s my biggest dream. I really want to see you all take this mindset and run with it and achieve the impossible dream.

So identify the dreams that challenge you because the ones that test your courage will give you the greatest bang for your buck in life. Your greatest dreams, your biggest goals will require you to go to that level of existence where doubt may surface and you’ll ask yourself, “I think I’m out of gas and I’ve got nothing left to give.” But that’s the critical moment when your goals are within reach and you’ll have to get crazy. You’ll have to get wild and exercise the energy to fulfill your goals so bad. Focus on your primary vision in life and keep your eyes on the prize.

So, take risks. Okay, let me rephrase that since I’m on a public platform and I need to address the legal disclaimers just in case the information gets misinterpreted. What I mean by that is take educated risks and build up the skillset to differentiate between a dream that’s impossible because of negative self-talk versus a dream constrained by reality. Find the craziness to dream big in the low probability zone and do what’s necessary to improve that source of probability and improve your chances of success. Just because someone tells you that your dreams are impossible does not mean that it’s impossible. It's only impossible if you don’t give it shot, if you don’t work at it, get better, and let life play out. Get crazy with your dreams and exhaust all options within your realistic constraints before even giving any attention to the thought of giving up.

And one last thing. Focus more on saying I will versus I want. 

Before I die, I will fulfill the dreams that gives me purpose, let go of the ones that aren’t meant for me, and dare to dream big to achieve the impossible dream. 

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Thanks, y’all for tuning in to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast. I look forward to continuing this conversation of awareness and amplifying greatness through gratitude. If you’re enjoying the Love Notes for Life podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, and other major podcast platforms. The Love Notes for Life apparel and book is now available at lovenotesforlife.com. For the latest updates be sure to track the mindset by following me @mikecabuco on Instagram or Twitter.

Thanks, y’all for the support and always remember, “There is beauty in knowing that there is only one of you.” Take care.