People know me as a dreamer. I’m lucky that when they refer to me as this, it is a positive term. For others, a dreamer is a negative term, noting that the person is not grounded within reality and chasing fantasies of success.
That’s not me. And I’m guessing, you don’t want to be that kind of dreamer either.
You can be a successful dreamer—someone who reaches for and accomplishes goals.
But if there is anything I’ve learned taking cues from how Jesus accomplished His mission, it’s that achieving what you set out to do is no easy task. Certain areas in your life need to fold and pave the way for you to succeed.
What I’m about to offer you is not a formula for success; rather, it’s the conditions for success that I’ve seen displayed from the life of Jesus. Jesus was someone who accomplished what He set out to do, so when I talk about the science of dreaming, I often mention Him as the prototype—the one who knows how to get it done.
Here are factors I’ve extracted from His life that I believe contributed to His success:
1. Intentional
We say Jesus was intentional, but many of us can’t break down what this intentionality practically looked like. Intentionality, in fact, is a vague and broad term that we don’t know how to define in practical terms other than being purposeful.
But as I see Jesus accomplish His mission, I notice a few things about His intentionality—things we could also mimic:
- He was mission-minded. (Luke 19:10)
- He safeguarded that mission with boundaries limiting what He would do and for whom. (Matthew 15:24)
- He filtered decisions through whether it would accomplish His mission. (John 11:4-6)
The main conclusion I draw about the intentionality of Jesus is that He was focused on one thing, which is contrary to how we operate today. Today, when it comes to productivity and work, we split our attention between multiple items, and our health and personal life suffers because of it. Instead, Jesus established a mission, and had everything—from His goals to His decisions—filter through that mission.
In the same way, our intentionality with dreams means we give them the proper attention and devotion by making them our mission. In doing so, we’ll actually be able to pump out the necessary productivity to make our dream happen.
2. Simple
Jesus didn’t deal with anything unnecessary. He cleared the excess and simplified everything so that He could focus on what He needed to.
Unfortunately for us, things easily creep into our life without our noticing. It’s difficult to live a simple life in an age of overstimulation. Most of the times, we are overwhelmed by our surroundings and what we need to do. We sometimes end up spending more time helping others achieve their dreams than we do our own.
What we need is to simplify, clear out the clutter trying to encroach on our lives. Here’s how Jesus did that:
- Woke up earlier to establish a time of peace and prayer, before His day got going. (Mark 1:35)
- Lived with less to allow more freedom for other things to prosper in His life. (Matthew 19:21)
- He was present in the moment, which relieved worry and anxiety about the future from ruining the present. (Matthew 6:34)
What I conclude from the simplicity of Jesus is that there are many things in our life that are unnecessary. We devote time, attention, and energy to these things that distract and overwhelm us.
If we want to make our dreams happen, we must simplify—putting in place the habits and practices to allow us to live with more freedom. This means going with less stuff, focusing on the present, finding times in the day to collect peace. Whatever you do, the success of your dreams depends on how well you’re able to clear the excess.
3. Heroic
Finally, to make your dreams happen, they need to make a difference. They need to be heroic, for the benefit of others.
That’s why I started JesusHacks. At the core of Jesus, I could see that He was committed to helping people, which meant that if I were to be anything like Him, I would have to serve people as well. That’s why this is a how-to blog. If Jesus was a blogger, I believe he would be a how-to blogger. He’s heroic with His dreams like that, helping people live the best life possible.
If you’re going to make your dreams happen this year, they need to be centered on allowing others to flourish. Otherwise, you won’t generate the support or following to get anywhere with your dreams.
These are the three tenets to JesusHacks because I believe these are the three factors we need to improve on in order to live the best life possible—one where we accomplish our dreams and make the most impact.
If you have dreams that you want to make happen in 2015, follow this blog, and learn how to practically flesh out each of these elements.
Photography by Mikaela Hamilton