The List

Who said that you have to whisper your dreams?

When my daughter Shira was six-years old, we went to eat ice cream on the boulevard next to our house.

It was dusk, and Shira murmured something to herself.
"Everything OK, Shira?" I asked.
"Yes, Daddy," she replied, "I just saw a falling star, and I made a wish."
"And what's the wish?" I inquired.
"I can't tell you!" she exclaimed, "If I tell you, the wish won't come true."

We continued cruising the city streets, and after a few moments, I said to her, "You know, I think that you're a bit mistaken. I think that if you tell me what your dream is, maybe I can help you make it come true. It’s like when I was your age, and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Western Wall (the place where Jews customarily tuck in slips of paper bearing their requests of God), and I asked to get a computer - and I got one.”

Shira opened wide a pair of enthusiastic blue eyes. "What??? God read the note?"
"Maybe," I smiled at her softly, "but, Grandpa definitely read it!"
And then I suddenly understood!

For hundreds of years, people raise complete generations on the notion that dreams should be whispered quietly.
A falling star? Ask for a wish in your heart.
An eyelash fell out? Ask for a wish in your heart.
Blowing out candles on a birthday cake? Ask for a wish in your heart.
In your heart? Why in your heart? Who even hears that?
Why not tell our dreams to as many people as possible?
Why not "shout" them out on social media so that as many people as possible will hear and help us realize them?

That evening I decided to test the issue. I returned home and started a small, modest blog called, "The List." I posted on it ten dreams that I want to realize within 400 days, and I sent it out to the world. I did not expect and certainly did not dream for what happened the next day...

Tens of thousands of people read my list of dreams and asked to help me.
“I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can help you,” people wrote to me from around the world.

I received replies from Africa, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Norway, France, Syria, the United States, Canada and more countries across the globe. I commenced a journey to realize the list of dreams, and along the way, I gathered a countless number of insights on what causes certain people to realize their dreams while others are stuck for years with their dreams; why people are afraid to talk about their dreams at all; and how one may go about creating an effective list of dreams and check-off as many of them as possible.

My realization journey crossed countries, continents, nations, and languages.
“Maybe tell us what happens with the list of dreams?” my close friends requested. So I put together a special lecture for them. After they heard it, they said to me, “Too bad my parents did not come this evening.” So I gave another lecture for my friends’ parents. “Too bad our friends did not come this evening,” they told me. So I gave another lecture for the friends of my friends’ parents. And suddenly, I found myself telling the story of “The List,” and mainly, of the collection of insights to thousands of strangers.

The List blog that turned into a lecture ultimately turned into a book that so far has been published in the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, China, South Korea, the Netherlands, and other countries. Over half a million people from around the world have so far been exposed to the content of “The List.” Starting from kids in elementary and high schools, by way of students in universities, and on through organizations and companies, the message is gaining momentum.

I invite you to join the community of list-makers, shouters, and realizers to learn - and teach the people who are important to you - why it is essential to “shout out” dreams and how to do that.

The length of The List lecture is approximately an hour and a quarter, and it may be shortened or lengthened as required as well as made into an interactive workshop of a few hours.