Right now, there’s a red sports car orbiting the earth in outer space.
Stop. Reread that. Pause again. And just consider the enormity of that sentence.
There were no cars in orbit on Monday. Or the day before that. Or the 2,017 years before that.
Then yesterday, at 3:45 p.m. ET, the Falcon Heavy rocket blasted off into space.
This wasn’t a bad pun on from an episode of The Big Bang Theory. It wasn’t shot on a Hollywood sound stage.
This was real. And I know. Because, from here in the Daytona Beach area, I saw it zooming into the atmosphere with my own two eyes.
And now, there’s a red Tesla roadster (with a pair of Florida-style shades on the dashboard) hanging out in the Milky Way, savoring a surreal joyride like the coolest surfer in the world.
With one spectacular rocket launch, Elon Musk taught all of us an incredibly important lesson.
We’re not dreaming big enough.
It begins with a wild idea
Nobody dreams like Elon Musk. He created SpaceX, the first company to ever launch a privately built spacecraft into orbit and return it safely to earth.
He created Tesla with a dream that electric cars can be better, quicker, and more fun to drive than gasoline-powered cars. And now he’s created demand for the Tesla 3 that rivals that of the newest iPhone.
He started The Boring Company to create 3-D tunnels to revolutionize the transportation industry, with a goal of enabling New York to Washington DC travel in 30 minutes or less.
Anyone want to bet against him?
Why your dreams must be just as big
Had Musk dreamed any smaller, would he be achieving the spectacular results he enjoyed yesterday? No way.
As television host Steve Harvey – another big dreamer and great achiever – often says, “Your dream must be bigger than your fear.”
Musk certainly had fears. Prior to the launch, he openly expressed that the #FalconHeavy – 230 feet tall, with a payload capacity of 140,700 pounds – had a “50/50 chance” of exploding. And even afterward, while flashing a huge grin of relief, satisfaction, incredulity and accomplishment – he said, “I really didn’t think this would work.”
Lift your own dream into outer space
Many news outlets see the Falcon Heavy launch as a game-changer for space travel.
I say it’s time to use this as a game-changer for your own life.
What dream do you have? The one inside your heart? The one you’re afraid to let out? The one you’ve been hiding for years?
It’s time to make that dream real.
Start by writing down your dream. Put pen to paper – or thumbs to touchpad. Better yet, create a vision board and post it as a visual reminder of where you want to be in the next year.
Then, take massive action, as life strategist Tony Robbins likes to say. Work every day to achieve that vision.
You’ll encounter lots of barriers. You’ll meet people who will tell you your dream isn’t achievable. That’s why you’ll also need to choose faith over fear. Believe in yourself, and others will follow.
Think it’s crazy? Then remember these words from Elon Musk, “Crazy things can come true.”
Yesterday was proof.
Kyle Hardner is a freelance writer, editor and digital marketer who can be found staring into space many times a day.