Something I’m learning at the moment is that life is not all about accomplishing something. It’s vital to have dreams, but don’t think that just because you don’t see the dreams right now, that life isn’t happening. Life does not start when you finally get your dreams — it started when you were born!

Living with the thought that only when your dreams are here, will life start to mean something is a form of pessimism. It completely discounts the treasures around you right now.

Let’s imagine you want to become financially independent from your employer. What a great dream — finally you can stop working for money, and work because you love what you do, or because you know that you’re contributing something. Let’s say that there are six stages you need to go through before you get there. These stages might last a year each. If you see them as a hassle, “dead” time you have to trudge through before you get to your goal, you’ve just let six years of your life slide by.

You can also apply this retroactively. If you find yourself asking, ‘What have I done with my life?’ don’t be too quick to answer negatively. What about the people you’ve loved? Even loving one person is enough. A life can be turned around through a single sentence of encouragement. You just don’t know who sees you as a source of encouragement and inspiration. And it’s not just people “below” you (i.e. those not as far along the path as you). Leaders are inspired by their followers, as much as the dream they’re following. Leaders see followers and are amazed and moved that people value them enough to follow them.

So never look down your nose at where you are right now. You’re learning lessons. Remember, the summit is just a tiny part of the mountain you’re currently climbing.