Hello, my name is Cornell Thomas and I’m a dreamer. I know this might seem a little weird in this day and age, but I don’t see the world like most people do. I see the world in a myriad of colors not just black and white. I believe the world is what I make it, and every day is an opportunity to improve upon yesterday. I know I’m not alone. I might be part of a small minority but each week I meet someone new who feels the same way I do.
I visualize the future every day. Yesterday I gave a speech in my head to a group of students without leaving my bedroom. I’ve been on talk shows promoting a book that hasn’t come out yet, and I’ve been in championship locker rooms talking to my team that I haven’t even met. I usually don’t share these visions with anyone else. I just recently have let a few family members in on my secret. When good things happen I’m no longer surprised. I feel like I’ve already been there. My to do list (no longer a bucket list) reads like a list of impossible goals made by a crazy person. There aren’t many people that have accomplished what I’ve written down on that piece of paper. Statistics will validate other people’s claims of my insanity, but statistics only gives you surface data. They don’t measure a man (or woman) will or determination.
Statistically I technically shouldn’t be here. I’m an African American male that grew up without a father in a low income household. If you go by statistics I shouldn’t have finished high school, let alone college, and having my own business would be next to impossible. Statistically speaking I should be either in jail or possibly dead. Both of those scenarios would make writing today’s blog a little bit more difficult.
I challenge the kids I work with all the time to demand more of themselves. To not settle for just making a basketball team, or just passing a hard test. Why settle for good when you can be great? Why just make a team when you can be a starter? Why be happy with a C in biology when with a little more effort you could have gotten an A?
When I visualize the future I don’t set my sights on mediocrity. There are millions of people that do this every day. I don’t visualize talking to a team that lost the championship. I don’t see myself at a book signing with one person (thanks mom) sitting next to me and my head buried in dejection. I see only in the positive, and the only negative thing is that sometimes I have to actually go to sleep. (Not often) Unfortunately I can’t control how my dreams go or every one of them would be just as positive.
I wrote a blog earlier this year and talked about “active dreaming”, which in my definition is dreaming with your eyes open. The difference between active dreaming and daydreaming is that you’re actually taking forward steps to make your dreams happen. Daydreaming is usually when you’re listening to a lecture on “the history of the butterfly” and you’re thinking about how many yellow skittles come in each bag. (Usually 31 total about 5 yellow) A big part of active dreaming is visualization. It’s like doing rehearsal before a big play. You’re in the moment so much that when the moment comes you’re not surprised by it. I love the quote, “be there before you get there”, because that’s what visualization is all about.
Don’t be a statistic, be more than a number, dream big, and remember if you can see it you can believe it!
