I’ve attended many conferences before, but I have to say attending the Dream Symposium a few weeks ago was one of the best ones I’ve ever attended.  Have you ever had the feeling that an particular opportunity has come along at the perfect time?  That’s exactly how I felt when I was gifted a ticket to attend this conference from The Finance Bar (thank you to my sis Style & Vibes for tagging me in the Instagram post too or else I would not have known about it), and I was so grateful for the opportunity.  There was just one special element about this whole experience that made it so worthwhile, and it was the energy of the people who came to share their dreams with everyone.

The one take away that has left a lasting impression on me, is the definition of  Stretch.  One’s “Stretch” is the expansion that is necessary to become the better you.  It’s meant to make you uncomfortable and let’s face it, when has a dream ever came to fruition without a little discomfort.   Achieving your goal is more about the learning process it took to get you there rather than just simply achieving the goal.  These thoughts really helped me to assess the various goals I’ve set for myself.

The Egami team did a wonderful job with choosing the speakers for the conference as well.  I came back with half my notebook filled with notes and takeaways.  One of the speakers there was Soledad O’Brien, who I admire very much and even had an opportunity to personally ask her a question.  There was one thing that she said that really stuck out and it had to do with finding value in what you don’t want to do.  We’re always told to find value in what we are doing, that we lose sight that there’s also value in the things we don’t like or don’t want to do as well.

She even touched on the term “Work-Life Balance” and if you are a working mom, with a family, career, goals and aspirations you know we LOVE that term.  You want Soledad’s take?  There’s no such thing as Work-Life balance, we manage it to the best of our ability and try to figure out where to put your focus at the right time. Now there’s definitely truth to that advice!

Then we had the opportunity to experience probably one of the most energetic and funniest speaker I’ve seen, Mr. Jonathan Sprinkles. Thanks to Jonathan I now know what a “hamburger pimp” is!  Jonathan also stressed that people do business with people they know, like and trust and the importance of not letting what we don’t know get in the way of of what we do know.

We also had the honor of experiencing a chat with The Dream Giver himself, Bruce Wilkinson.  His delivery was very on point, I don’t think there was a single soul that couldn’t connect with what he spoke about.  His exact words were “If you value being safe over your dream then you’ll never fulfill your dream.”  See how this relates to your “stretch?” Bruce stressed the importance of bootstrapping your dream and even said it’s okay to have doubts, but it’s not okay to stay in doubt.  I think I may be adding one of his books to my summer reading list.

I must say I can’t wait for the next Dream Symposium and this time I won’t be attending alone, I’ll be bring five people with me.  Whether you are an entrepreneur or not, this is definitely a conference that everyone can benefit from.

Thank you for allowing me to share my personal story.  Every now and then I like to give you a glimpse into my life so you can see where I draw inspiration from and what keeps me fueled and going at it.  Be sure to subscribe to my list.