Maybe the Dream is the Icing

We all have big ambitions we want to chase down, big dreams we want to come true, and big plans we'd like to see happen. With each, we imagine the accomplishment will be the reward, that getting to the end of this journey will be the only sign of success and proof that this trip was worth taking.

But I'm starting to think that with any big project, the striving is its own lesson and reward, that what we learn while traveling is as valuable as arriving.

Find time this weekend to watch this short film. It's a "Dunkumentary" about a totally average white guy who wants to try to learn how to dunk a basketball.

Every guy who's ever bounced a basketball on blacktop or hardwood has dreamed of dunking. It's one of the few completely non-subjective athletic feats out there: the rim is 10" above the ground, and either you can dunk a ball on it or you can't. Dunkumentary follows Josh McHugh, a 5'8", 34-year-old Caucasian male, on his quest to dunk. Winner of the New Jersey State Film Festival People's Choice Award Screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2009 Directed by Margaret Johnson Produced by Margaret Johnson and Hilary Coate Executive Producer: Adam Pertofsky

I won't tell you how it ends, but what he gains while he trains to teach himself to dunk may just be as magical and important as throwing down is.

So set your sights high and work with all your might. And whatever result comes, know that benefits will abound throughout the process. Big goals do this to us; they're so massive that their disparate parts are life-changing by themselves.

And this is why big dreams are worth having and worth chasing.