Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream

Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream  My friend Whitney Johnson published her first book in April, Dare, Dream, Do. The book is a huge success on many levels, including the one most important to Whitney - letting people know that it is possible, even right, to dream of opportunities and adventures and make them real.I think humans are innately creators and dreamers. Somewhere along the way, for most of us, we were taught, encouraged, required to push those inherent capabilities to the back and obey the status quo (e.g., public education). Who says? Where is this written? Nowhere!Whitney asks us to stop listening to what the world tells us to conform to - especially us women. We have the right, even the imperative to dream. If we don't, who will? So many studies show that kids pay more attention to what their parents do than what they say - doesn't that mean we need to free ourselves up to dream? And then to try to make those dreams reality? If we don't, how will the next generation learn to? Given our economic and social situation today, we must (re-) learn to dream - to dream big, unconventionally, intentionally and based on integrity.Three quotes had the biggest impact on me in Dare, Dream, Do:* "The only safe harbor is our convictions...because it ensures we are honest to our core values.": at a fundamental level, all we have, the only thing that cannot be taken away, is our core set of values. We can lose our `stuff', we can even lose those we love - but no one, unless we let them, can take away our convictions - and that is what we must build our dreams upon; it is the only way to assure our dreams are authentic and valuable;* "Sometimes we set out to be competent. At other times our competence is simply the unintended consequence of doing what needs to be done...": how many times do we undermine our dreams by thinking we don't have the required skills, talents, experiences? Think about it - how many entrepreneurs were experts in their fields when they started? Not many - but they had a burning passion they needed to fulfill - and that's a critical competency - unswerving passion;* "Hell is a place where nothing connects with nothing." T. S. Eliot commenting on Dante's "Inferno": for me, this is the definition of hell. Our dreams bring people, real needs and solutions together - our dreams can connect dots that many thought could never be connected.Whitney's book is divided into three parts: 1) Dare - go for it, suspend disbelief and dare to dream - and dream big; 2) Dream - find your dream - perhaps it's been suppressed, perhaps it needs to be discovered, but find it; and 3) Do it - stop rationalizing why you can't and start telling yourself why you can.For many, none of this is easy and for some it can be quite scary. That's why Whitney provides the framework for making dreams come true - no matter how big, how small, how complex, how simple, but all impactful. Read the book, take notes, start a plan....and Dream.

This is a review of Dare, Dream, Do that I posted on my 9 Lives for Women site, [...].Harvard Business Review blogger Whitney Johnson caught my attention when she tweeted her concept of "dating your dreams". This makes sense to me because reinvention is so often making a dream happen--if you have the clarity and the stamina to bring all the fuzzy edges into focus. Dating your dreams--trying them out a little and living with them a while before you decide on a career change--takes a lot of the fear and risk out of a transformation.Whitney has written an entire book about how to materialize work and life dreams, and I encourage you to read her inspiring manifesto: Dare, Dream, Do. In her words, dreams that you "ink" (not just "think") take on greater possibilities. She encourages dreamers to make lists of reinventions they are pondering:"I imagine note cards tacked to a large cork board, each card with a word or phrase describing a potential dream written on it. This is your pool of dreams. Maybe you already have a favorite, a dream that you know you want to pursue wholeheartedly. Or maybe, like me, you have a dozen half-formed dreams that you want to try on. At this point you must give yourself time to explore--to take a dream out for a test drive."Whitney acknowledges that meandering test drives can be difficult for perfectionists: "...Which is why I believe in dating dreams...when we give ourselves permission to date dreams with a no-commitment clause it is really quite liberating." The dating concept takes dreams beyond the imaginary into exploratory dabbling and follow-up.So on Whitney's cue, here are some dreams that I'll ink, not just think:Write a book that offers "Vitamin C" confidence building tips in each of my 9 Lives for Women (actually underway!)Create a call-in radio show that helps women navigate the many stages of work and life from college through retirement yearsFind a way to join forces with influential women to advance family-friendly workplace legislation.Those are a few of mine...so which of your dreams are you willing to ink, not just think? Whatever they are, Whitney tells us that we must be serial dreamers, dabblers and explorers willing to give up less than optimal ideas and get on with new dreaming: "When we fall off the saddle of our possibilities, we need to get right back up." --Kathryn Sollmann

I've read tons of books about taking charge of my life, and pushing myself to the max - I am not only a self-help junkie, I also have a business that focuses on helping leaders go beyond their self limiting beliefs to be the best leaders they can be.What took me by surprise by Whitney's book - in addition to her incredibly ability to help me drop into the lives of so many amazing women and feel their pain and joy as they explored their own boundaries, limitations and potential - is her amazing ability to continue to surprise me with more and more wisdom as the book unfolds.I thought I got it all in the intro, and then chapter 1. But then more and more insights shot out at me and called to me to keep reading and keep pondering what my real dreams need to be... It kept me focused, and it kept me anchored to my journey. Did i open my eyes big enough? Did I explore to the max what I really, really wanted to do in my life or did I stop short of my biggest dreams? Did I wrestle down my demons or did I give into them? Did I find the right people to help me stay afloat when I was about to give up - or did I get back in the boat and keep focusing on my big dreams not just my easy to do ones.Pick a page, read a paragraph. Dare, Dream, Do is an inspiration for all of us to turn to when we are embarking on our BIG Dreams. I'm doing that now with one of the most important projects I've ever 'dreamt' about doing in my life.... and I'm using Whitney's book as my bedside coach! Judith E. Glaser

I'm a huge fan of Whitney Johnson's blogs and HBR articles. She is extremely inspiring. This book knocks it out of the ballpark by sharing a helpful frame of reference colored by thoughtful intimate stories. A true pleasure to read.

It is okay but not as much as one was expecting from it. Perhaps the writer could have put more efforts into writing it.

In “Dare, Dream, Do”, Whitney Johnson explores the need to dream, and tackles refining, reclaiming, right-sizing and executing one’s dreams by sharing ideas and stories of women who have dared to dream.What resonated with me most about this book was the need to pinpoint and explore one’s strengths as a way to fine-tune our dreams and to increase opportunities to have “strong-moments” when we feel invigorated and successful.I also really enjoyed the chapters on Rightsizing Your Dreams and needing to Create a Dare to Dare Dream. It was inspiring reading the stories of women who faced unexpected challenges that caused them to either dream again, find other dreams that enabled them to live their values, or acknowledge fulfilled dreams that came by way of unfulfilled ones. In Create a Dare to Dare Dream chapter, Johnson proposes that women create systergies, Mastermind-like groups meant to support and enable dreams and highlighted the importance of loose connections in helping people move their dreams forward.