Fate of the Dreamer of Today

Today’s dreamers get so busy with productivity processes, motivation mentorship, and positivity propaganda, without making much actual progress. While these activities help, they often also add to our work-stack. Here is a short poem summarizing my quest of finding the right set of disciplines, processes, and philosophies to help me with the pursuits of my ambitions.

I thought of growing rich, and it made me feel invincible, but it didn’t get me anywhere.
I developed highly effective habits, and it felt great, but it didn’t get me anywhere.
I learnt that today matters, and it made me value my values, but it didn’t get me anywhere.
I got shit done a lot, and it felt really good, but it didn’t get me anywhere.
I tried thinking big, but the world wore me down, so I just found myself right where I began.
I tried putting first things first, but my needs won over my wants, so I just became a frustrated juggler.

I got to inbox-zero — replying or classifying every email — and it made me feel on top of things, but I just became an actively busy.
I managed my calendar — and committed to every hour of it — and it made me feel in control, but I just became a time keeper.
I diligently took notes — collecting, tagging, and categorizing information — and it made me pretty efficient, but I just became a good organizer.

I am not the dreamer who built yesterday, for whom the century old practices prescribed by religion worked like a charm.
I am not the dreamer who built today, for whom the need for income and survival made the clock work.
I am the dreamer of tomorrow, for whom purpose and actualization are most important.

So that I can pave the path to tomorrow,
So that I can pursue my ambitions for tomorrow.
I will need the tools of tomorrow,
the habits, disciplines, and principles of tomorrow,
the solutions, processes, and philosophies of tomorrow.

Cross-references

• Think and Grow Rich (Book by Napoleon Hill)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (Book by Stephen R. Covey)
• Today Matters : 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success (Book by John C. Maxwell)
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Book by David Allen)
• The Magic of Thinking Big (Book by David J. Schwartz)
• First Things First (Book by Stephen R. Covey)
• Inbox Zero (Email filing and productivity process by Merlin Mann)