Goals Are Dreams with
Deadlines
By Phil Cooke, Pastors.com
“Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.”—Brian Tracy, personal success coach.
“Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.”—Brian Tracy, personal success coach.
Whenever I feel my dreams losing steam, I always think of Booker T.
Washington. Born a slave in 1858, his childhood years were anything but
pleasant. The family’s farm cabin had no glass windows, and any opening to let
in light also let in the freezing wind in the winter. The floor of the cabin
was dirt. The life of slave was back-breaking work that started before the sun
came up and continued long after it went down again. His childhood was also
lived out during the Civil War, which created turmoil, fear, and uncertainty in
the lives of Southern slaves and added additional pressure to an already
hopeless state of affairs. But in spite of that desperate situation, young
Booker dreamed of an education.
His goal was learning—real learning. Not just the ability to read a
newspaper or dime-store novel, but a desire to learn science, mathematics,
history, and more. Years later, working deep in a coal mine, he overheard some
of the miners talking about a school five hundred miles away called the Hampton
Institute. He immediately decided that one day he would attend the school, in
spite of the distance. His dream simply would not die. As a result, he not only
attended the school, but was later asked to lead a new program in Alabama
called the Tuskegee Institute. He eventually built Tuskegee into a major
college campus with more than fifteen hundred students and a faculty of two
hundred professors.
There was not one single thing in Booker T. Washington’s life that
helped him except the power of a dream. Starting out he had no money, no
education, no training, no influence, and no future. He was just another slave
among thousands, with no potential other than living out his life working in
obscurity on a forgotten Southern farm.
But the power of his dream opened doors, filled him with motivation, and
revealed his true promise. Millions of Americans have been directly touched or
indirectly inspired by his story.
If you feel that your situation is hopeless, just remember Booker T.
Washington and start dreaming again.
