In his wild imagination, a man lived the lives of famous people, enjoyed their celebrity status and socialized with their closest friends. His family became concerned with his more frequent “escapes from reality” and encouraged him to see a psychiatrist.

After several sessions, the psychiatrist announced, “Congratulations, Mr. Jones, you’re a healed man.”

“What a lousy cure,” responded his patient. “Before I was famous, and now I’m a nobody.”

Was he actually delusional or looking to fulfill a dream? I’ll leave that to the professionals to decide, but really, haven’t we all imagined a bigger, better, more exciting life at some time?

I’m a big believer in dreaming. That’s how I started my envelope manufacturing company and became a writer and a speaker. Show me someone who doesn’t dream about the future and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know where he or she is going.

Actor Kevin Costner said: “I’m a big fan of dreams. Unfortunately, dreams are our first casualty in life -- people seem to give them up, quicker than anything, for a ‘reality.’”

Life is full of people who believed in themselves and their dreams. For example, writer W.P. Kinsella envisioned an Iowa corn farmer and a dream to reunite a deceased father and son for a game of baseball. He turned his dream into the novel “Shoeless Joe,” which later resulted in the blockbuster movie “Field of Dreams.”

British philosophical writer James Allen wrote: “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Be bold with your dreams! Aim high. Create your own ‘field of dreams.’”

Warren Buffett’s early years were filled with entrepreneurial ventures, from going door-to-door selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola and weekly magazines to working in his father’s grocery store. He delivered newspapers, sold golf balls and stamps, and detailed cars. He always knew that he was going to be a wealthy person, and he certainly achieved that.

Tyler Perry had a tough childhood and was expelled from high school. He was physically and sexually abused and tried to commit suicide twice. Yet he didn’t give up on his dream of working in theater. He wrote, produced and starred in a variety of shows that were unsuccessful. Finally, he achieved success and has become a superstar powerhouse in Hollywood.

J.K. Rowling was an unemployed, divorced mother living off state benefits when she decided to turn to her writing passion. Within five years, she was one of the richest women in the United Kingdom, thanks to her fictional creation Harry Potter.

Dreams take many forms -- awake, asleep, lost in thought. Don’t downplay any of them! Sometimes we can go places in our minds that help us formulate goals and plans that will shape our future.

“Since it doesn’t cost a dime to dream, you’ll never shortchange yourself when you stretch your imagination,” said the late pastor Robert Schuller.

“I think, therefore I am” is a fundamental concept of philosophy: We have to assume that we really exist because we’re aware of our existence. But in neurological terms, the idea is more complicated, because scientists haven’t been able to identify the area of the brain responsible for self-awareness.

Research involving lucid dreaming may solve the mystery. Lucid dreamers are sleepers who are aware that they’re dreaming and can even control their dreams. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich are comparing brain functions before and during lucid dreaming, hoping to pin down how the brain knows it’s awake and aware.

That’s more science than I can absorb! But what I do know is that dreams come true every day. Small dreams can grow to big dreams.

Barbara Grogan founded Western Industrial Contractors in 1982 with a 1969 orange pickup truck she bought for $500. Western became a nationally recognized industrial construction company. Among her many accomplishments, she became the first female chair of the board of the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and was the first female chair of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“The world is chock-full of negative people. They have a thousand reasons why your dreams won’t work, and they’re ready to share them with you at the drop of a hat,” Grogan said. “Well, this sounds trite, but you just have to believe in yourself and in your ability to make your dreams come true.”

Mackay’s Moral: Dream on -- and then DO something about it.

For 25-plus years I’ve had a Post-it note on my bathroom mirror that simply states: “You haven’t hit your peak yet!” I’ve looked at that message every single day. So when I was wracking my brain trying to think of a title for my new book, it was staring me in the face. I saw the note and said, “That’s my title!”

“You Haven’t Hit Your Peak Yet!” comes out Jan. 29. I hope you’ll order a copy from your favorite bookseller.

I never thought I’d write another book, but readers of this column and my seven other books got me thinking that I’m not done yet. I’ve still got a wealth of information that I’d like to share to help people navigate the shark-infested waters we live in.

I wanted to cover a variety of subjects -- 27 to be exact. I start with adversity because I’ve never met a person who hasn’t had to overcome a little or a lot of adversity in life. To me, the worst failure is the failure to try.

Next is attitude. I learned years ago that one of the most powerful things you can do to have influence with others is to simply smile at them. On the flip side, of all the human failings that can destroy a person or a business, arrogance is the deadliest.

In my public speaking, I hammer home the point that people achieve to the degree that they believe in themselves. It doesn’t matter if someone says you can’t do something. The only thing that matters is if YOU say you can’t do it.

I cover business basics in my new book, such as accountability, discipline, persistence, setting goals, ethics and trust. And I share advice I’ve learned over the years from coaches like Sam Walton, Peter Drucker, John Wooden, Lou Holtz and others. Coach Holtz also wrote the foreword.

There’s a section on competition, because rivalries and opposition make you better. It’s important that you learn how to beat your competition.

Creativity is the first lesson I talk about in all my speeches, because we can all be more creative. But how do we cultivate creativity to grow success? And I discuss innovation, one of the hottest themes in business today.

Taking care of customers is taking care of business, which is why you need to create a service culture. And when you do screw up -- and everyone does -- you need to know how to correctly apologize.

You cannot be a leader under any circumstances unless you understand one four-letter word in the dictionary: HIRE. The single greatest mistake a manager can make is to hire the wrong person. And when it comes to getting hired, the most important thing to remember is that getting a job is a job.

People skills are so important that I made it one of the larger sections in the book. I include my 10 commandments for the office, and touch on the importance of manners, watching your language, friendship and being a class act.

There is no substitute for quality. Doing something that’s good enough never is. You need to do it right the first time. Our values determine who we are.

Self-improvement is a crucial section. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. There are many things you can do, such as strengthening your memory and learning from your mistakes.

Check out my seven Cs of success: clarity; competence; constraints; concentration; creativity; courage and continuous learning. Success is the difference between working hard and hardly working. There is no I in team, so I share the successful traits of team players.

I’m a time management freak, so I show readers how to keep time on their side. If you want to have the time of your life, make the most of your minutes.

I couldn’t write a book without valuable information on networking, negotiations and sales. I have more than 50 years of experience on these subjects that I’m happy to pass on. It’s important to remember that everything is negotiable.

I have several lighter but equally important sections in the book, like humor and laughter. A sense of humor is no joke.

In the last section, called Final Thoughts, I share life lessons like volunteerism, making people happy and thoughts on a richer life. Be sure not to let making a living interfere with having a life!

Mackay’s Moral: People’s lives change in two ways -- the people they meet and the books they read.

A highly successful basketball coach took over as coach of a struggling university team. During the first day of practice, the coach sat all the players down and asked them how close they were with their teammates.

They all said, “Oh, we’re real close.” Then the coach proceeded to ask each player about his teammates. Do you know what their fathers and mothers do? How about brothers and sisters?

And not one person knew a thing about their fellow team members’ families.

Many business leaders preach, “Know your customer.” How about “Know your team”?

At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we often utilize a questionnaire called the Mackay 33 for Managers. It’s designed to provide a personal profile of the likes, dislikes and unique individual needs and qualities of each of our employees.

It is based on observation, not investigation, and is intended to motivate people and design individual career paths. We want to know their goals and aspirations. What motivates them? What are they most proud of achieving? What are their strengths/weaknesses? Do they have proper role models? Are they team players?

Your success as a leader -- and your organization’s success, as well -- depends on your ability to get the best from your employees. Often, you spend more time with your workforce than you do with any other group, even your family. Isn’t it important to get to know them as people and not just co-workers?

You can’t expect it to come automatically, though. You have to search carefully for each person’s exceptional talents. For every person you lead, see how thoroughly you can answer the questions below:

1. How well do you really know the employee? What can you quickly recall of the employee’s family, personal goals, hobbies or other outside interests?

2. What do you know specifically about his or her career goals, both short-term and in the long run?

3. What single word best describes the person’s job performance?

4. If this person resigned today, what would you miss most?

5. Can you name the person’s greatest strength or skill?

6. Can you think of the last time you discussed this person’s skills or talents directly with him or her?

7. What have you done recently to make the person feel like an important member of your team?

8. How recently have you asked for this person’s ideas or input?

9. What specific, positive comment about this person’s talents or contributions could you make today?

10. After looking at the answers to the previous questions, what could you do right now to get more from this employee?

Leadership in any organization with more than one employee needs to understand the importance of fostering an environment where teamwork is paramount. A really helpful feature of the Mackay 33 is that it provides guidance for assembling a team based on each employee’s strengths.

It doesn’t stop with managers knowing something about employees. Co-workers must also get to know enough about each other to be able to relate well. Offering ice-breaking opportunities helps promote a sense of team.

I came across a rather novel approach recently -- the toilet-paper challenge. Gather employees around a table or stand in a circle and pass a roll of toilet paper around. Each person may take as many or as few squares as they wish.

Then, each participant has to state a tidbit about themself for each square they took -- “I play pickleball,” “My first job was at a radio station,” “I show Siamese cats” -- you get the idea. Nothing more than what they are comfortable sharing with the group -- just a little glimpse of their outside or interior lives.

Seeing people from another perspective also exposes hidden strengths and shared interests. And the fun factor is an added benefit for any workplace.

On the website of Scoro, the software business service, Merily Leis offers a fascinating example of teamwork: The Rolling Stones.

“Each of the band’s members is a talent in his own right, but it is the chemistry the band has with each of them that works best," Leis writes. "Being part of the Rolling Stones remains the best way for each member to achieve their individual goals.”

Mackay’s Moral: Teams work best when they are in tune with each other.

(Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com, by emailing harvey@mackay.com or by writing him at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.)