Quote of the Week...from Muhammad Ali and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough.            
                                                           Muhammad Ali and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

I've come across the above inspirational quote on a number of occasions, and it seems to be a split as to its original source.  Although I suspect that the late boxing great Muhammad Ali was the first to say it, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who as Liberia's current president is the first ever democratically-elected female leader of an African nation, has used it as well.  Either source sounds good to me, and the quote reveals something important about how we sometimes sell ourselves short when it comes to planning out our respective futures...

I think the main point of saying that your dreams need to scare you is that if they don't involve you stepping out of your comfort zone and being willing be undergo fundamental transformation, then they aren't worth pursuing and that you're only deceiving yourself and will ultimately be unsatisfied...even if you fulfill them.  Looking back from an imagined future point in time and seeing the talents that you will have developed on your journey...as well as the fears you will have faced and overcome...can be a little bit overwhelming.  Ali and Sirleaf, however, both seemed to be saying that we shouldn't fool ourselves about what we want to aspire to deep down inside ourselves and should follow our goals to their logical ends.  Having been something of an incrementalist tied down to daily routines, following their advice would definitely involve me undergoing a personal paradigm shift.  An intriguing quote, this is...I'll have to meditate on it...