Dreams Become Reality When You Have Purpose

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Over the years I’ve observed one important difference between people whose dreams come true and those whose don’t. That difference is follow-through.

While there are many factors that influence follow-through, one important ingredient is having a strong sense of purpose. It’s so fundamental to achievement that author Napoleon Hill said in his book Think and Grow Rich:

…there is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE – the knowledge of what wants, and a burning DESIRE to possess it.

And this is exactly what we have in the Ahsoka series, a clash between characters with wildly different goals. Who wins out will be the person or group with the strongest and most DEFINITE sense of PURPOSE.

So if you have big goals for yourself, new dreams you want to achieve, this week’s episode of Path of the Jedi is for you.

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Transcript: Path of the Jedi
Ahsoka Part Seven – Dreams and Madness

[Preview clip: “She was willing to defy Governor Azadi. That was in the very first episode. She’s willing to butt heads with Ahsoka, which is pretty much an ongoing thing. She was willing to join forces with her adversaries – with Shin, with Balin, with Morgan, and then travel to a completely different galaxy, a literal uncharted galaxy.”]

[Intro clip: “You’re listening to Path of the Jedi with your host, Ronnie Cruz.”]

All right! Welcome to Path of the Jedi, the podcast where Star Wars meets Personal Development. My name is Ronnie Cruz, your host for this “jam-packed” adventure.

That’s right, jam-packed.

We have a lot to talk about today. If you were listening to the show… sorry, okay, let me backtrack. If you’re brand new, welcome. Thank you for tuning in.

Last week, we kind of had a “shotgun” episode, and we didn’t finish the discussion for Ahsoka Part Six: Far Far Away.

And so we’re going to continue that conversation, as well as finish up Part Seven. So it’s going to be an episode and a half worth of discussion in terms of Ahsoka.

So… jam-packed in that sense, but also jam-packed because Ahsoka is coming to a close very quickly for us here at Path of the Jedi. As I mentioned, today is going to be Part Six and Seven, which leaves the season finale for next week, Part Eight.

And then beyond that, we have to start thinking about Acolyte, which we haven’t covered yet.
And we gotta start thinking about the Skeleton Crew, which I haven’t even watched.

And then right on the heels of all of that, we’ve got Andor Season Two coming up in just a matter of weeks.

So it’s like all this stuff is coming at me right now. And I’m not sure which direction to go.

Not that it really matters, but I feel like I want to stay current with Andor Season Two as it comes out. But at the same time, that means pushing Acolyte, and that means pushing Skeleton Crew further and further back on the calendar.

Like I said, it’s not that huge of a deal, but it just feels like there’s a lot happening right now, and everything is coming to a head.

Which now that I think about it, that’s also how the show feels right now.

Ahsoka, as we approach the finale, everything feels like it’s coming to a head very, very quickly. So let’s just get right into it then.

Going back to Part Six: Far Far Away, we were talking about how our characters faced uncharted territories, how they responded and reacted to having to face the unknown and the uncertain.

And we have two more characters to discuss for that particular topic. We have Thrawn and Sabine.

So let’s start with Sabine.

I feel like Sabine is kind of always in uncharted territory. She has this kind of restless nature about her.

When we see her on Lothal, we get the sense that she would rather be doing something else other than whatever she’s supposed to be doing in her official capacity there. But it’s not that she’s reckless or anything like that… reckless without cause, at least.

I think Sabine has a tremendous sense of purpose and that she would rather be out there working to fulfill that purpose and bringing it to fruition than sitting around an office or doing whatever she’s supposed to be doing in her official capacity on Lothal.

This strong sense of purpose is why I think Sabine is more than willing to face uncertainty, is more than willing to face those uncharted territories.

I mean, look at what she’s been willing to face so far.

She was willing to defy Governor Azadi. That was in the very first episode. She’s willing to butt heads with Ahsoka, which is pretty much an ongoing thing. [giggles]

She was willing to join forces with her adversaries – with Shin, with Baylan, with Morgan, and then travel to a completely different galaxy, a literal uncharted galaxy!

So yeah, Sabine is not at all afraid to face all of these things, to face all of this uncertainty, and to face uncharted territories, because she has a strong sense of purpose.

And by the time we get to Part Six: Far Far Away and are introduced to Thrawn, we see that she’s not scared of him either.

Meanwhile, we see everybody else kind of kowtowing to Thrawn.

I mean, of course, Morgan is going to be subservient. That’s a given. But I was surprised to see how subservient Balin was, and of course, as an extension Shin.

And then you have the three Night Sisters. These are beings, individuals who have the power and ability to communicate clear across the cosmos to another galaxy. But for whatever reason, they’re subservient to Thrawn as well.

So it’s like, what does Thrawn have on all these people that they’re all just willing to follow his orders without question?

But not Sabine, not Sabine at all.

Not only is she the only one not afraid to face him down, but she’s the only one that actually has his number and has the ability, because of her bravery and her strong sense of purpose, has the ability to actually trip him up.

And we see this. We see [it] happen in this episode.

So that brings the conversation to Thrawn then, who I feel is or has as strong a sense of purpose as Sabine.

But the difference is he’s much more methodical.

Sabine is kind of flying by the seat of her pants. She’s really making things up as she goes, right? She improvises. And, you know, for the most part, it works out.

Thrawn, on the other hand, he’s more methodical. He’s more well thought out in execution.

And this is a distinct difference between the two – he’s much more detached from the outcome, much more emotionally detached from the outcomes.

The way Thrawn operates is that he uses what’s in front of him. He takes all the information, all the data that’s in front of him. He considers all the variables, then he makes a plan, and then executes, rinse and repeat.

The way he faces uncertainty, the way he faces uncharted territories, per se, is by planning for as many contingencies as possible.

This seems like a pretty sound strategy, right? Like a sound way of operating. I mean, Thrawn is a very accomplished individual because of how he operates.

However, the drawback to all of this is that he’s grown overconfident in his own abilities. And I think that’s led him to believe that he can predict all outcomes, all possible scenarios.

The irony of it all is that this is a huge flaw. This is a huge weakness when faced with the unpredictable, i.e. Sabine.

What we have now, then, is this clash of wills, right? This collision of opposing purposes. It’s the immovable object versus the unstoppable force.

And by the time we get to Part Seven: Dreams and Madness, we get even more purposes thrown into the mix, right?

Ahsoka, of course, and Hu Yang have arrived at the planet. And then Baylan finally reveals what his true intentions and what his plans are.

So we have all these characters and all these different sense of purposes colliding in this one episode. And really, it’s just a question of whose purpose is going to win out.

It really goes back to the title of the episode: Dreams and Madness.
Are the things that these individuals, these characters trying to achieve dreams or is it just madness?

Of course, that depends on who you’re asking, right?
That depends on the perspective.

But to me, the person who’s going to prevail, the person who’s going to fulfill their dream and their intention is the one that has the strongest sense of purpose.

To bring the conversation down to our planet here on Earth, it really is, in my opinion, a conversation about dreams, right?

Having dreams, having goals.
And I’m going to use those terms interchangeably here.
Dreams, goals, visions.

Your ability to bring your dreams, your goals, your visions to fruition really begins with your strength of purpose.

Even in the face of people who are trying to oppose the thing you’re working to achieve.
If you have a strong sense of purpose, none of that can really stop you.

And I tell you all of this with a pretty high degree of confidence because over the years, I’ve observed the exact opposite.

I’ve seen and watched people set goals, set visions and dreams for themselves. And because they lack conviction, because they lack that strong sense of purpose, they end up never following through.

Without that strong sense of purpose, they give up, they throw in the towel at the very first sign of adversity.

I want you to have big goals.
I want you to have lofty dreams.

And yes, there are so many other factors that go into fulfilling these dreams and goals. But before any of that, I want you to ask yourself, what am I willing to do to make this happen?

You do this, you ask yourself these hard questions every day. And over time, you’re going to develop, you’re going to cultivate within yourself, that strong sense of purpose.

And eventually, nothing can stand in the way of you achieving your dreams.

[Outro music begins]
Okay, so I hope that makes sense. I hope that makes sense.

It really is a conversation about achievement. Well, not achievement, but, you know, setting goals, having a vision and achieving that goal and that vision.

Now, of course, there are so many other things that go into that, that go into the fulfillment of that goal.

However, it all starts with having a strong sense of purpose.

If you haven’t read the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, it talks about having definiteness of purpose.

Well, okay, so if you haven’t read it, it’s the book outlines step by step what you need to do to achieve whatever you want to achieve, right? To achieve your goals and your dreams.

And the very first step, it’s devoted, it devotes a whole chapter to this is having a Definiteness of Purpose.

Without this foundation, without having this definiteness of purpose, everything else after that really just kind of falls apart.

So having a strong sense of purpose is tremendously, tremendously important.

Yeah, if you haven’t read it, I’ll leave a link to that book in the show notes of this episode. I highly recommend it. It’s a classic. It’s the OG of OG books in the personal development realm. So I really encourage you to go pick it up.

[Star Wars soundbite: “I’m going in. Cover me, Porkins.”]

All right, so let’s move on to the shout out.

This week’s shout out goes to all the DREAMERS out there.

If you’ve ever wanted to do something different, something that people around you would say is unrealistic or not possible, I not only want to celebrate you here today, but I want to encourage you to never stop dreaming.

I know there’s a lot of crazy things happening in the world, a lot of adversity, challenges, a lot of uncertainty and unknowns. And all these things can easily dim our lights if we let them.

But we have to keep dreaming.

We have to keep creating visions of a better tomorrow for ourselves and for the people that we care about.

I want to read you a verse from a song called Crazy Dreams.

Here’s to you free souls, you firefly chasers, tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players.
Here’s to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms.
There’s a lot of wonder left inside of me and you.
Thank God, even crazy dreams come true.

So to all my dreamers out there, this week’s shout out goes to you.

[Wicket soundbite: “Yub yub.”]

Okay, so yeah, I got some crazy new goals and dreams I’ve set for myself. One of them being, of course, to grow this show. I’ve talked about that before.

So if you could, do me a favor and just think of one person you can pass this episode to. One person is all it takes. Somebody who you think might appreciate and enjoy this content, enjoy the show, just take three to five seconds, press that share button, and we’re off to the races.

So I really want to grow this show so that the bigger goal then is to be able to get a media pass at Star Wars Celebration.

Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make the one this year in Japan, but yeah, future celebrations, I really would love to… well, not “would love”… but I AM setting a goal of being able to attend the future celebrations with a media badge, a media pass.

I think that would be incredible. That would be an incredible experience.

So yeah, any help that you’d be willing to provide with that in getting the word out about the show and helping me grow the show would be really, really appreciated.

So again, if you could just share this with one person, I will be eternally grateful.

[BB8 soundbite]

Okay, so that’s going to do it for this week.

If we haven’t connected yet, let’s connect. Hit me up on the socials, Threads, and especially Blue Sky. Those are the two platforms that I’m really focused on, but especially Blue Sky.

I’m absolutely loving that platform. So I want to meet more people there. I want to connect with more people there.

I’ll leave a link to both of those in the show notes of this episode.

But also, I’ll leave a link to the song that I mentioned, the song Crazy Dreams.
It’s from a show called Smash, a show from way, way back.

But it’s my favorite song from the show because it really is, it just inspires me. It reminds me to keep dreaming, and it encouraged me to keep dreaming.

So listen to that song after you listen to this episode.

And then, beyond that, we’ll catch you next week with a fresh new one.
So until then, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and may the force be with you.

[Disclaimer: “This podcast is not endorsed by the Walt Disney Company, nor Lucasfilm Limited, and is intended for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The official Star Wars website can be found at www.starwars.com. Star Wars, all names and sounds, and any other Star Wars related items are registered trademarks and or copyrights of Disney and their respective trademark and copyright holders.
All original content of this podcast is intellectual property of Path of the Jedi, unless otherwise indicated.”]

[Yoda giggle soundbite]