Bob Goff - Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It

2020 Bob Goff

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ISBN 978-1-4002-1950-6 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-1949-0 (HC)

ISBN 978-1-4002-2097-7 (IE)

Epub Edition April 2020 9781400219506

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020935464

Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to all the people who stand in the
middle of my life. Sweet Maria, Lindsey, Jon, Richard,
Ashley, Adam, and all the people they love the most.
Thank you for living lives that inspire me to pursue my
dreams and point me toward more lasting ambitions
than the ones I would have come up with by myself.

To you, the reader, I hope you will dedicate yourself to
constantly changing into a more authentic version of yourself.
Charles Dickens once famously said, There are books of
which the backs and covers are by far the best parts. Ive
read a couple of those. Perhaps you have too. I hope youll
decide this book has a middle worth reading. Dont settle
for the cover story. Its in the middle of our lives where all
the good stuff happens. As you read these pages, dig deep
and find whats in here for you. All of heaven is counting
on you to show up and fully engage your beautiful life.

CONTENTS

What will you do with your one extraordinary life?

I have been teaching as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School for more than a decade. Its a place filled with bright, ambitious law students, many of whom have had a lot of life break in their direction. I also teach a class at San Quentin State Prison. My class there is filled with men who are felons, and their misdeeds have exacted a high price from themnamely, their freedom. I learn quite a bit from both sets of students, but the contrast between them cannot be overlooked. There is an authenticity that brokenness can refine in our lives if well let it. Ironically, the guys with the life sentences often seem to be living freer lives than the law students with all the opportunities. Their brokenness ultimately led them to a personal freedom, even behind bars.

Have you ever wondered why some people achieve so much with their lives and others dont? One person starts with no money, some terrible circumstances, and seems to be the happiest, most fulfilled and self-aware person youve ever met. Another person is born with a trust fund, good looks, and endless apparent opportunities, and yet they lead a sad, self-absorbed, meaningless life. What happened to allow some people to make the shift and others to miss the ramp? Some people seem to move from success to success, while others seem to be stuck in a loop of pain and sadness and distress. Some people also have a rich and vibrant faith that is taking them places, while others believe the same things just as much but seem stuck struggling with their beliefs and how to reconcile them with their lives.

In short, why is it some people live inspired lives and others cant? How come some people glide through life and others grind it out? Why is it that some people seem to be living three times more than a normal life, and others feel like they are only living half of one? These are all questions most of us ask ourselves at some point. Where do you think you fit on the spectrum? Dont shade it, fake it, or sweat the answer. Just get real about it. Heres why: we need to figure out where we are before we can plot a course forward.

The fact is no map will take us where God wants to lead us. We are all off-roading most of the time. Yet there are plenty of clues out there for living the big and meaningful life that Jesus talked to His friends about. Instead of telling them to look for a plan, He pointed them toward their much bigger purposes. In the pages that follow, lets figure out where your purposes are and then hatch a plan to get there.

Ive written a few books, and some of the stories probably made you laugh, while others made you cry. I want this book to make you think. In the pages that follow, I hope youll figure out where your purposes lie and then chart a course to get there.

When I was out of college and living alone, I had a closet in my house where I would throw the things that didnt have a specific place to go. Naturally, this closet quickly became a huge, disorganized, impenetrable pile of debris. Everything in there was evidently important enough to acquire at some point and even valuable enough to keep, yet none of these things remained accessible to me anymore because there was no order to them. As a result, a whole lot of items, with individual value, were collectively worthless because I couldnt get at them.

Our lives are not much different. We gather experiences, emotions, knowledge, and self-awareness. We amass pains, triumphs, disappointments, and wisdom. Without some shelves to put them on, though, we cant access these things or what theyve taught us to help us move forward. These experiences and aha! moments are the stuff youll need to access as you figure out what your next moves are going to be in the direction of your ambitions. Put aside the self-help talk. What you need is a good set of shelving to access what youve already experienced and a willingness to reflect on what you find there.

It took 220 years after the pencil was invented for someone to invent the eraser. Im glad they did because Ive erased in my life much more than Ive kept. We all get to do this. We take what weve written about ourselves, what we truly believe God thinks of us, and decide what to keep and what to erase. Were not the only author of our lives either. Like the ones who have signed the pages of a high school yearbook, other people who have intersected our journey have written over us too. Some of what they said is true and beautiful and lasting. Other things not so much. Never change was written in my yearbook by at least a dozen people. Its the worst advice Ive ever received. Were supposed to change constantlyinto kinder, humbler, more faithful versions of our old selves. This change and growth happens when we sort out the truth from the lies in our lives. Heres some great news. The next version of you is the one who will pursue the ambitions all the previous versions were unable to accomplish.