Dream huge, but start small.

The first step in achieving dreams is setting goals. Goals lead to dreams. And setting goals is the way to get to those dreams, said Gene Poor, professor of Visual Communication and Technology Education at the University.

Poor spoke in the Union yesterday on the importance of dreaming and gave students advice on how to make their dreams come true as part of the Last Lecture Series.

The series, which is in its first year at the University, is a collection of presentations given by student-selected speakers. The lectures are designed to give the speaker the opportunity to discuss a topic of his choice as if it were the final presentation he would ever give.

Poor, who has been at the University for 35 years, was chosen by students to speak based on his knowledge and reputation of being a great lecturer.

University junior Troy Tice was a former student of Poor’s and was appreciative of the opportunity to hear him speak outside the classroom setting.

“It was a 40-minute speech that seemed like it was five minutes long because you just want to hear more,” Tice said.

Tice noted that both, in and out of the classroom, Poor has taught him that everyone does fail at some point in their lives.

“No matter what, you are going to fail, but you need to take that failure and learn to move on,” Tice said. “Do not give up on your dreams.”

Yesterday’s lecture brought to University freshman Doug Stoots’ attention that what you do with your life is in your own hands.

“Nobody can make decisions for you but yourself,” Stoots said. “He motivated us to take steps to enrich our lives and live your dreams because they are just going to stay dreams if you don’t live them.”

A personal mission that Poor has adopted during his tenure at the University is to encourage students to have dreams. He not only encourages students to have dreams, but motivates them to make those dreams a reality.

“It’s [dream] something in your mind or heart and that’s where it will stay forever unless you bring it to life,” he said.

It’s not an easy task to achieve a dream. Sometimes they are hindered because of what Poor describes as the “good enough” factor. The “good enough” factor is each individuals question of quality, he said.

“Good enough is the ultimate whatever, and whatever is the dream killer,” Poor said. “Whatever is what you will settle for.”

Making dreams visible to the eye is essential in attaining them. Poor’s way of keeping his dreams in view is by putting them on his bathroom wall.

“I’m in there a lot anyway sitting on that throne. I might as well be dreaming,” Poor said. “I’ve always put my dreams where I had to look at them. I had to make them become real.”

A tragedy, Poor said, is being around so many students and seeing so many that don’t have dreams. Students need to dream out loud because if you can’t seem them, the dreams just go away, he said.

Removing people from their comfort zones gets them to look and achieve outside of the box. People succumb too easily to what is normal, which limits their ability to dream huge, Poor said.

But in order to dream huge, you have to start small and start somewhere. Most people are just waiting until they get there, but there is no “there”, Poor said.

“Pull the trigger and ride the bullet,” he said. “The people that are the most successful are ‘now’ people.”

People can talk all they want about something they’re going to do, but it has no merit until they actually take action, Poor said.

“One experiment is worth 1,000 theories,” he said. “Quit talking about it and just do it.”

And although the tips presented in Poor’s lecture were valuable, he stressed that if students have a desire to change their lives, the best way to do that is to find a mentor.

“I’m standing in front of you because of a professor,” Poor said. “Put one in your life and your life will never be the same.”

The secret to success lies in studying the lives of your heroes and following the road map that led them to success, he said.

“Think of what you can learn from them,” Poor said. “Think of what they could tell you. They’ve been there, they’ve done that.”

Poor — grateful to the professor who guided him — mentors one or two students a year as a way to give back what’s been given to him.

“It’s the most amazing thing in the world to watch the process of somebody realize a dream, to take them further than they could have ever imagined possible.” he said. “There isn’t a higher high than to see someone realize their dream.”