Let your dream bring your future closer to you

After studying in Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia, I dreamed to study in the UK. But where could funding have come from? Read this story to see how my dream delivered my destiny to me.

In 2014, I became a Clore Fellow in the UK. This photo was taken at Bore Place in Kent, during one of our fortnight residentials.

After paying off my student loan for my first degree in Canada, I continued to work full-time in Hong Kong while doing my second degree in Australia. When it was finished, my son was about 8 years old, and I dreamed to further my studies in the UK. However, my bank account was a bit exhausted, and how could I afford to study overseas while supporting my family?

On a Saturday morning in early 2013, I saw an announcement that said “Hong Kong Scholarship on the Clore Leadership Programme, for middle-to-senior cultural managers to study cultural leadership in the UK…” My heart skipped a bit because it looked like a perfect opportunity for me.

“What do you think is wrong with music education in Hong Kong?” one of the interviewers on the scholarship panel asked me.

“It is backward to fits children into a broken system, you must design a new system that is fit for the children” I answered confidently.

My dream came true after I passed the first interview in Hong Kong and the second interview in the UK. I was offered a scholarship of £24,000 to study in the UK!

I was trained with 24 cultural leaders from all over the UK and 1 from Egypt and 1 from Brazil. The Clore Leadership Programme has been running for about 17 years by now and it has always been a network of compassionate leaders who sustain each other with vision, knowledge, and opportunities.

Through this programme, I discovered the world of community music during my secondments at More Music in Morecambe and Sound Connections in London. Afterwards, I also received the Arts and Humanities Research Fund to conduct research at the University College of London. I researched on ways musicians in the UK make a sustainable way of living by developing a portfolio career. This new knowledge opened my mind to see new possibilities for my own career.

However, dreaming is not always easy and there are many factors that stop people from dreaming.

Hence, I have come up with an acronym, HORSE, that helps can people visualise their dream and make dreams bigger. It aligns with values, strengths, and motivation. It empowers people to choose the right actions and overcome barriers. It connects them with their inner self so they can become more at ease, sustained, and impactful.

Here is the acronym for making more dream happen.

HORSE =Heart, Observe, Rigor, Story, Ease

Heart - your wisdom, insight, values, belief, personality, attitude, and dream. These intrinsic motivations make you truly happy.

· If you died suddenly yesterday, what do you miss most from your life?

· If you come back to life today, which part of your life would you like more of?

· What are some changes, big or small, you can make for you to get closer to your ideal life?

· Anything else?

Observe - your ability to know yourself and be mindful of your present situation. Knowing yourself is a continuous process. Having an accurate assessment of yourself and your situation helps you make better decisions. However, it is common to have blind spots and bias. This is why we need to create the condition for self-awareness to happen. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness in their book Passion Paradox offer these self-distancing routines for people to obtain more space to observe themselves.

· Immerse in the lush, natural environment

· Watch the sunset, stargaze, or observe a full moon

· Viewing artistic works

· Listening to music that moves you

· Looking for examples of extraordinary human kindness (e.g. spending a day volunteering in a homeless shelter)

· Observing a craftsperson at work using their unbelievable skill (e.g. watching LeBron James playing basketball or Bette Midler acting on Broadway)

Rigour - your perseverance even when things get hard. Your resilience to break through at a pivotal point. Your time, energy, and strategy are spent on what really matters.

· What kind of impact do you want to achieve? How much impact is enough for you?

· How much time and energy will you spend to achieve this? What do you sacrifice in order to achieve this? Is it worth it?

· What stops you from achieving this impact? What would you say to your friend if he/she is in the same situation? What would you do to address this ?

Imagine 1 year from now and you have made this impact happen.

· What is different? What do you see? What do you hear? How do you feel?

Story - your own narratives of what happened in your life, how you view your successes and failures, your mindset and positive-and-forward-looking perspective.

· Did any negative experience in the past keeps you from moving forward now?

· Is this experience still relevant to you now?

· If this negative experience is no longer relevant to you now, how would you rewrite your story to turn this experience into something positive?

· What can you learn from it and how does this new narrative help you achieve what you want to achieve in the future?

· How confident are you nw ? What else can you do to become more confident?

Ease - your instinct, intuition, and ability to look after your own wellbeing.

· Where are you now in terms of your well-being?

· Are you getting enough rest and relaxation?

· Do you exercise regularly?

· Is there anyone you can draw support from at any time?

· Are there areas of your life that you sacrificed too much?

· Do you recognise any signs of being burnt out?

· What do your body, mind, and heart tell you?

Can you see your dream? What will you do to make your dream come one step closer? Share with me in the comments below and be an inspiration for others.