A lottery ticket can provide it’s owner with a fantasy of becoming rich. A story can provide it’s reader with a fantasy of becoming powerful, or important, or loved. A real-life hero can provide her admirers with a fantasy of becoming what she is.

Fantasies can be a useful source of motivation, planning, and advance decision-making. A vision is a fantasy with a plausible plan for getting there.

Action-less focus on a fantasy diverts time and energy away from productive action. Such escapism appeals to us because it avoids the conflicts, especially our own deep fears, we must face to make our fantasies come true.

Leaders of organizations, and leaders of their own lives, are those who abandon escapist fantasies and engage in a process of confronting those conflicts.

Given enough time, anyone willing to face conflict can make real any fantasy that doesn’t violate the laws of physics or the laws of the land.

Because time is our strictest limitation, it makes sense to start right away.