Simon Squibb

What's your dream? It's a simple question, but one which very few of us ever really think about.

From early on, we are taught that there's only one path to getting ahead: do well at school, get a certain kind of job, and avoid failure at all costs. We're so busy trying to follow these rules that we never stop and ask ourselves: What's my purpose? What do I really want? Do I have the power to make it happen?

Simon Squibb is on a mission to change people's lives for the better. Here, he shares the hard-won life lessons from his years in the business world plus his own personal life, from facing homelessness as a teenager to selling a multi-million pound business, and now inspiring a new generation of budding entrepreneurs. Simon will empower readers to identify their own meaningful goals, to remove the barriers that stand in the way, and ultimately to build a richer life. Sometimes, it just takes one person to believe in you...

Find Your Passion. Love Your Work. Build a Richer Life.

What's Your Dream?

Fabian Beiner

There is a lesson here: we don't succeed by forcing ourselves to work hard as some kind of punishment. In fact, we achieve the most when we work smart, and when we are working on something we really want to do. When we are following a dream that lifts and propels us, rather than banging our heads against the door of hard work for its own sake.

Having a purpose puts you in the opposite position. The long evenings of dread and the snooze button on your alarm are banished. You actually look forward to going to work. You stop talking about 'work-life balance'. Why? Because you are doing something you want to do. Something that feels worth doing: a proper use of your time, effort and skill. And all this effort doesn't feel like it's going down the drain, or straight into someone else's pocket. It's helping you, moving you closer to your dream. The work you do becomes an investment: a down payment on the future you are trying to create rather than a routine that sucks up your energy and will to live.

The impact of such doubt can be profound. Hearing someone question your dream can kill your confidence stone dead. At worst, it can reawaken old concerns that you may have previously put to rest. Especially so when it comes from a family member, a partner or a close friend. Someone who knows us and wants the best for us. When people like this express doubt, it magnifies our own. The problem is that they have no better chance of being right than you do. If they are questioning your dream, telling you it is unrealistic or worrying that it might all go wrong, they are probably not speaking from a position of expertise but one of fear.

[…] it's never the idea that makes a business succeed. It's the people and the motivation behind it – the dream that powers it.

Going all in is also a commitment to yourself. It says that you have faith in the idea, you believe in the dream and you will do everything in your power to achieve it. You may fail, or discover that the business you tried to build wasn't the ultimate vessel for your dream. That's fine because you will learn and do better the next time. What isn't fine is not giving yourself the opportunity to succeed. When you have an idea that you can't get out of your head but are too timid to pursue it. You can (and should) forgive yourself for failure, but you may never forgive yourself for not trying when you had the chance.

A day of doing things is worth a month of planning to do them.

What's Your Dream? quotes

Join the club