Dream More, Learn More, Do More, Become More.

For this article, I’m looking at a quote image which is straight out of the ‘inspirational quotes’ box…

I took that photo looking at Ailsa Craig, just off the West coast of Scotland. It was between 9 and 10 pm, and it was a gorgeous summer evening, spent snapping away at the sunset, soaking up the view and the atmosphere. Inspiring, you could say.

As for the words I put over the top?

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

That’s a quote from John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the US, following in the footsteps of his father John Adams who had been the 2nd president.

It could be argued that inspiration might have been somewhat lacking when his parents came up with his name, but hey, that father/son naming thing was even more of a thing than it still can be today, and after all, what’s in a name!

His quote was to do with leadership, but I prefer to look at it from the inspire point of view, and it’s why I chose to only use part of the quote. Yes, good leaders inspire, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be a leader before you can inspire.

More than that, while I like the idea that you can inspire others to follow (after all, that’s pretty much what is at the core of my message!), I *love* looking at the words in how we direct it towards ourselves.

That’s the key for me.

Adams talks about your actions doing the inspiring, and he’s right – thinking is great, talking is great, but it’s action that gets things moving. It’s not without reason that I call ‘action’ one of the 4 magic words beginning with ‘A’!

I look at his quote with an emphasis on *your* actions – you may actively set out to inspire others, you may not, but your actions are based on your own belief set, your own ideas, your own attitude.

Here’s a good question to ask which goes to the heart of how we can apply Adams’ quote to our own individual lives…

Do you actually act at all in the first place?

Of course we do act, all of us, all day long. The question is, do we act with intention? Are we taking action based on a foundation we’ve set in place after deliberation, or are we just bumbling along, reacting to circumstance, reacting to the buffeting that life’s winds will surely send our way?

To have that foundation under us, we need to start with the dreaming that Adams talks of. Not idle daydreaming. Not wishy washy hoping. Not even wishy washy wishing!

Dream More.

No, this dreaming is more about making a firm decision to go after what we want. That requires us to firm up our dreams into defined goals. It also requires us to push the boundaries of what we thought we the limits for us.

Limits of potential mean nothing unless they are tested, so until they’ve been tested, don’t believe your limits when you dream – if you want to dream ‘more’, then set ‘more’ as your goal, define it, and work out the plan.

When it comes to working out the plan, this is where we ‘learn’ more as Adams covers…

Learn More.

So many people, too many people, don’t even start on the journey towards their dreams, simply because they don’t know how.

I find that staggering, because no-on who achieved anything knew how when they started! It’s all about gaining the knowledge.

Unless you’re the first person to want your particular goal, which let’s face it, is unlikely, that means others have been there before. That in turn means that the knowledge is out there, and unlike in Adams’ day, we have the abundance of opportunity that the internet has created, which allows us to seek out and absorb that knowledge.

I’ve said before that this is an opportunity I also find staggering.

So, once we set the goal and gain the knowledge, the next part of Adams’ quote is to ‘do more.’
I’ve already covered that taking action is the driver behind becoming more. If we seek out to inspire others to become more then we need to do more by our actions.

If we are to inspire ‘ourselves’ first and foremost, then again, we need to do more by our actions.

Do More.

Now, at this point I think it’s a good time to make a differentiation between ‘more’ and ‘better’.

To say ‘better’ implies that the current position is not good enough, not acceptable. Well, that’s not what the quote is about, not in my eyes anyway. I view it as saying that we can contribute more to ourselves, those around us, and society as a whole if we go for ‘more’.

If we know our actions are at a level we know could be more, then we can raise our actions, and then we can raise our level of expectation higher.

If the thoughts that drive our actions are at a level we know could be ‘more’, we can raise those thoughts to the level we know they should be at, and then push on, to ‘more.’

If we need to learn more, then get on and learn it.
This makes us become more.

Become more.

That thing you thought, that thing you said, that thing you did – could it have been ‘more’? Should it have been ‘more’?

I love this concept, because it’s something we can hold ourselves to at any time. It keeps us on a footing of integrity – integrity to others, and integrity to ourselves.

When others see us doing this in our actions, (and they will see it), then not only will they be more open to following, when you ask them to do it as well, they start to apply it to themselves for themselves.

That’s when you inspire others.

That’s all well and good, in fact inspiring others it’s *wonderful*, but as I’ve said before, I do think it’s how we apply it to inspire ourself that has most value which is why I chose to only put part of the quote over the image, to let the part about inspiring others come as a by-product.

So, look to your own circumstances, look to what you want, what you expect, and what you do, and then look to those words from John Quincy Adams…

Dream more, learn more, do more, become more.

Try it, it can change your life, it can transform it.

Do let me know what you think, I love the feedback!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget to grab my free video series covering my 8 step goal achievement formula – it’ll help to make things ‘more’.