Hill Harper urges people to dream big

Actor and author Hill Harper on Wednesday encouraged an audience at Southeast Missouri State University to dream big and become the architects of their own lives.

Best known for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in the television series "CSI: NY," Harper presented the university's annual Michael Davis Lecture, which recognizes the contributions of African-Americans and honors the late Michael Davis, a journalism student at Southeast who died as a result of a hazing incident in 1994.

At the beginning of his lecture, Harper asked the audience to write down their personal and professional goals and dreams, with the sky being the limit.

He explained the four steps it takes to become a life architect: Make a blueprint, build a foundation, create the framework and make sure there's a door that can be opened or closed.

A blueprint should be written out, Harper said, and should detail the goals a person wants to accomplish in life.

Then the person should build a foundation that will support those goals, using education, family, faith and discipline.

The framework, he said, includes choices a person makes.

"It doesn't matter how rich you are, how smart you are, how good your foundation is -- poor choices will derail you," he said. "Choices have to be thought of, and you refer your choices back to your blueprint. But if you don't have a blueprint, you don't have any choices to refer back to. So, therefore, you kind of made choices as you go, and you don't know why."

The door to your life, Harper said, is the way to let in new people and new ideas.

"That's critical for building the life we want to build," he said. "When we step out of our comfort zone, life tends to reward us."

Harper told the audience to go home and create a blueprint after the lecture, but said there is a reason most people won't: fear.

"What are you passionate about?" Harper asked. "Don't allow fear to stop you when you think about it. When you think about what you're passionate about or what you love, I would suggest that passion simply means: Where do you want to put energy?"

Harper said people need to wake up in the morning and say, "Today's the day I'm actually going to have an impact. Today's the day I'm going to change the world."

At the end of his lecture, Harper told the audience to go back to the goals and dreams they had written down and double or expand them.

An audience member volunteered to share her goal, which was to become a published author. But after doubling her goal, she said she wanted to become a best-selling author.

Harper said even after telling the audience to write their goals and dreams, with the sky being the limit, they still were able to double them.

"Most of us dream too reasonably," he said, adding people are waiting for someone to give them permission to dream bigger. "I would suggest to you that even your double is too small. You guys are magnificent. There's nothing you can't do if you allow yourself to go to the place where you dream that big and then build a life that fits that expanded life."

klamb@semissourian.com

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