Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop The Focus and Strategy To Uncover the Life You Want

Epilogue: Dream Bigger Dreams

One of my mentors once told me the story of Ted Turner and Turner Broadcasting. When Ted's father died, he left him a couple of million dollars and this advice: "Dream bigger dreams than you can achieve in your lifetime." As I've shared in this book, I believe that personal success for selfish reasons is no success at all. True success builds lives, families, and communities. True success gives back and gives a leg up for others. True success leaves a legacy of positive change, of giving, not just getting.

When you dream, make them big ones! One of the things I've appreciated about Emerson Brantley, who helped me to get this book done, was that he wasn't blown away by my vision. In fact, he saw it as something even bigger. He saw it as big as I really wanted it to be, but I had scaled it down after years of being told my dream was too big. I wanted to build a multimillion-dollar company, but Emerson told me I'd be wasting my time if I wasn't going for a minimum $100 million dollar company—or more. I planned to build it up and sell it as a private company. Those usually get 3 to 5 times earnings. He said why not take it public, and get several times that? I'd always wanted to take a company public, but along the way, we all face the danger of letting the day-to-day battles of running a business lower our expectations, if we're not careful.

Your Dreams Aren't Big Enough!

Most people self-limit their dreams. If you think your dreams are pretty big, make ...