Don't Trade Your Dreams For Peanuts

By Author: Jonathan R Taylor
Total Articles: 19
Comment this article

Recently, I had the chance to see part of the movie Collateral. In it, actor Jaimie Foxx plays a cab driver named Max who happens to pick up the wrong customer one night. That customer is Vincent, a hit man played by Tom Cruise.

I found one bit of dialogue from the movie very interesting. In one particular scene, Max is describing his future plans to start his own Limo business. He boasts that driving a cab is just a temporary transition until the timing is right to begin this dream of his. As the conversation continues, Max reveals that he's been a cab driver for 12 years!

This is typical of so many people who talk about their dreams but are afraid to ever follow through with them. Following their dream is just too risky for some, so excuses are made for putting them off. Now's not the right time, they rationalize I need to have all my ducks in a row.

The problem is, that time never comes. Before they realize it, they've traded in those aspirations for the security and comfort of a steady paycheck. They exchange their dreams for a handful of peanuts. In Africa, they catch monkeys by placing ...
... a few peanuts inside a hollow coconut which is attached to a long rope. One end of the coconut has a small hole cut out that is just large enough for a monkey's hand.

As the monkey smells the peanuts, he comes up to the coconut and reaches inside to grab a fistful. Once he has a fistful of peanuts, his hand becomes too large to pull back out of the hole. What's even more interesting is that he will not let go of those peanuts despite being hauled in for capture.

We might laugh at this monkey, but how many people are out there working in a job they hate simply because they can't let go of the security. Like Max, they have dreams, but they never get around to acting on them because they fear giving up those peanuts.

So what goals and aspirations have you been putting on hold? Most clients I meet with know deep down what they would love to be doing. The problem is they're not doing anything about it. My advice is to not let another day slip by without sitting down and making a plan for what you would love to be doing the rest of your life. If you need help and direction making those plans,