It is fun to dream; it is actually good to dream. All of the great inventions we have today are the result of someone’s imagination, born in a dreamer’s factory. Dreamers are an essential part of our modern world and at the core of every civilization that ever existed. The trouble with dreamers is they often Do too little. You see, a dream needs to grow hands or it becomes useless, it needs to grow feet or it remains stagnant. In other words, it needs to be put into motion or it eventually dies. Dreamers need doers.

Doers see what needs to be done and they quickly find out how to get it done, then roll up their sleeves and just do it. Doers see a problem and instead of pondering and lingering, wishing and hoping, they start by doing what’s at hand. What would the world be without doers? The trouble with doers is, however, they usually need to SEE in order to move forward. While dreamers build on “nothing” doers are more practical, they live with their feet so set on the ground that it usually never occurs to them that they could fly. It is obvious that dreamers need doers as much as doers need dreamers.

Actually, the world needs them both. Commonly, the ideal situation is for dreamers and doers to work together. I can think of no better examples of dreamers and doers working together than my husband and I. I am the dreamer and he is the doer. He usually gets things done very quickly while I will go to great lengths to do a similar task. Not only do I want it prettier and more detailed but more than likely I will go off thinking of something completely different that just occurred to me as a result of being "inspired" by the present task.

It is often the case that a dreamer comes up with great ideas for inventions and then wonders about how extraordinary it would be if these could come to life. Yet probably in a couple months or years, she sees her great invention being displayed on TV or elsewhere. How comes? Because it was taken to the market by a doer who is probably less talented and most likely didn’t take the time to exploit all the idea’s full potential. But here’s the deal: a less-than-great-existing-product is far more useful than a non-existing-extraordinary one. And that’s the way it is with everything else in life. An imperfect solution to a situation is better than a perfect version sitting in someone’s imagination.

I learned this many years ago. I’ve always had a vivid imagination and I have been in the “business” of designing bestselling product-ideas for companies at least for 16 years (long before it actually became a real business). I have observed how some of my great ideas got re-discovered by a doer who got it to the market first. For instance: the practical edition of the debit card, special discount cards, several versions of the e-pen, several versions of the expression doll, washer/drier (similar to the Maytag’s one featured on Oprah’s favorite things 2005) the robot-cleaner ball, or a super intelligent searching browser which I named Strategy™ (yet two Stanford students named a strikingly similar concept Google® a couple years later) and I could go on.

I have learned a lesson or two about being an avid dreamer. I finally had to search hard to come up with a way to market my active imagination in a useful way. So there are several things I could tell both dreamers and doers out there. Yet I have decided to summarize them in one phrase for each. And since I am, after all, a dreamer I’ll use a figure of speech.

To Dreamers: I read somewhere that “it is good to build castles in the air, that’s where they belong. But don’t forget to build the foundations underneath”. A building without the right foundations, no matter how wonderful, will crumble eventually.

To Doers: Foundations are the most important part of the building. It’s what sustains them and make them stand tall. But there sole purpose is for engineering designs to sit on them. Without the engineering designs, foundations serve no purpose at all.

So the next time you are tempted to discard a dreamer as a wishful thinker, remember they are the ones who design the work that needs to be done.

And next time you’re being carried away with your vivid imagination, please remember the only way your dreams become useful is when they are tangible enough to bless the rest of the world.

Julie Duncan-Archibold is the author of The Brainstormer. Think, Imagine, Create; a book that outlines over 120 product and business ideas and offers keen suggestions on how to bring them to life. For more information go to http://www.lulu.com/jdabrainstormer Her company http://www.BrainstormerThinkImagineCreate.com designs Products & Business Ideas with mass-marketing appeal for companies to create products and services that consumers actually want to buy. For more information request an e-brochure at [email protected]

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