Dreams?...Always
The Difference Between Expectations and Dreams
In Building a Second Brain author Tiago Forte suggests we create a second brain by building a personal system for knowledge management.
Mine is called the Marlow Thought Library.
For years I’ve gathered ideas, insights, interesting tidbits, and quotes that you won’t read anywhere else.
Watching the French Open tennis tournament this past weekend reminded me of one of my all-time favorite entries in the thought library.
In 2010 a little-known player named Francesca Schiavone managed to become the first Italian woman ever to make it to a Grand Slam tennis final.
I recall the announcers giving her little chance against the same opponent who had easily beaten Schiavone in the first round of the exact tournament the year before and who had just beaten Serena Williams, the number one player in the world, to make it to the finals.
In one of the great upsets in sports history, Francesca Schiavone beat the odds, and Samantha Stosur to win her first-ever Grand Slam tournament.
After her surprise, French Open victory, Schiavone was asked about having expectations of more grand slam wins.
"Expectations?…No…Dreams?…Always."
Francesca Schiavone
audio narration by David Marlow
I was struck by the beauty and hopefulness of the comment without the usual baloney of athletes after a victory.
Playing the recording back several times to capture what she said, it went immediately into the thought library.
It’s not a quote you will likely read anywhere else.
Though she continued to play and ultimately made one more final, it became her only grand slam victory, retiring in 2018.
For all of us, however, this serves as a marvelous Ikigai model.
"Expectations? No. Dreams?Always."
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Goes to prove David that Dreams should not have a number of continued achievements necessarily in mind as a mind-set. How many people live out dreams that may not be in the right spirit and intentions. Many would say this type of disorder does not help. Tom Brady of the NE Patriots of which I was a fan for many years showed the side of arrogance which causes not JOY, but disorder that can break up families and even cause harm to ones legacy and proper order. When a wise person may have in all humility known when it was time and for the right reasons to step back and even mentor others putting oneself aside and think of Agape Love and using ones SI - Spiritual Intelligence along side of our IQ and EI abilities within our dreams!
This is so beautiful and speaks straight to my heart David.. What is life if not made of dreams and hopes.. Such a positive and optimistic way to look at everything..