Q: For 2026, do I go for big dreams, or try to keep my goals grounded and realistic?
A few months ago I wrote about learning from your dreams. And today, I want to revisit that topic.
The other day on my podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with the legendary filmmaker James Cameron. He said something to me that I think we’d all benefit from hearing.
He said that the biggest risk as an artist is to take no risks.
That’s because, he explained, when we just do what we’ve already done, we fall into what he called the comfort zone of mediocrity.
He gave the example of working on Titanic.
They were running over budget. And running long. At the time, there was only one successful film that ran longer than 3 hours. The studio was utterly convinced the film was going to be a major disaster.
Still, he said: trust me. Trust my instincts.
They did. And it paid off. 11 Academy Awards, and the first film to gross over $1 Billion in the box office. One of the most culturally significant films of all time.
Of course, not all of us are filmmakers. And it’s unlikely that many of us will be in charge of a $200 million budget to make a culturally impactful blockbuster. But we can still learn from this.
See, James didn’t go to film school. He was just a kid who saw things in his mind. He liked to draw. He didn’t have the money to get a fancy degree. So he took blue collar jobs. He drove trucks during the day and painted at night. His film school was drive-in movie theaters.
The way he puts it, when you have a dream, you’re stuck. You just have to keep doing it. He knew his career wasn’t likely to turn out the way it did. But that didn’t matter. He had to take that step, to believe in himself, and to say “my dream is worth it.”
In your life, there are things you want to do and try. There are skills that get you fired up inside, that you can’t wait to share with the world.
Maybe you’re passionate about music, and playing your instrument like it stemmed from your body.
Maybe you like creating elaborate worlds for people to play games in.
Maybe you have a dream of starting a company.
Whatever that dream is, honour it. Believing in your ideas is a form of self-care.
Do you have a dream?
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Today’s Wiser Choice
Sometimes it can be hard to tap into your dreams. So much of our adulthood is spent putting dreams on hold to meet the practical reality of life’s challenges.
Try This: Give yourself permission to embrace your childlike wonder, if only for a moment. Set a timer on your phone and for that 5, 10, 20-minute period, let yourself think like a kid. What does that version of you want to do in your life? How do you like to have fun? What skills do you want to learn?
All those things you write down? Those are your dreams. Allowing yourself to hold them, to know them, is a gift to yourself.
