In the spirit of The Last Lecture The Secret and The Alchemist this small book presents BIG
ideas for turning your one day into today including the generational transfer of a dream and a
powerful blueprint for a masterpiece life-from the author of the New York Times bestselling
memoir and major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness.On a winter's day Chris Gardner set
off with his nine-year-old granddaughter Brooke to find the harmonica of her dreams. The search
sends them North beyond the wall into a foreboding Chicago neighborhood and soon on a
harrowing adventure that will change both of their lives-and ours. Chris is still mourning the
loss of his girlfriend to brain cancer. Her question haunts him: Now that we know how short
life can be what will you do with the time you have left? After five years he feels an
urgency-what he calls Atomic Time in which every second counts-to find an answer but is
stuck. Even while giving Brooke permission to aspire to one day become President of the United
States he knows it's time to reclaim his own permission to dream. Lost Chris and his
granddaughter board a bus reminding him of earlier rides through dark times when dreams of a
better life kept him alive. As the two wind through a changing cityscape Chris reflects on
past lessons that offer powerful guidance for dreaming your way to monumental success. At its
heart this book lays out a blueprint for building a dream-come-true life-even during
uncertainty. Gardner delivers the secrets to achieving a prosperous career-from a method for
identifying your ultimate dream to a playbook for becoming world class at it. His tools include
the new 3 R's-or the Rep the Rap and the Rolodex-which reveal how to earn a stellar reputation
develop a rap for marketing yourself and amass a Rolodex of rewarding relationships. No matter
how much wealth you achieve Chris notes true success comes from enriching the lives of
others-so all can still have access to the American Dream. Toward the end Brooke observes that
in Atomic Time it's never too late for anyone to reinvent themselves and change their fortune.
Chris hearing her realizes what his next pursuit will be-to go back to high school and give
permission to dream to the next generation of problem solvers and change makers. A true fable
Permission to Dream is a timeless and timely manifesto for turning dreams into action-beginning
right now.
