What To Do: Chasing Your Dream

I once knew a guy who wanted to be a cowboy one week and a pastor the next. I myself wanted to be a professional figure skater and a tennis star when I was a kid. Ah, dreams: they can come from out of nowhere, but they have a way of grabbing a hold of your heart so tightly that nothing can shake it.

When you have a dream to do something, be something or go somewhere, it feels as if it’s your sole purpose to do that and no one can convince you otherwise. If you have a realistic dream - whether it’s being the next Chipper Jones or building a house you designed yourself - it’s time to get serious about it, no matter what age you are.

• Don’t take no for an answer. When I worked for a real estate company a year or two ago, I once asked the most successful agent at the firm what her secret was. She closed on multiple properties every week the entire time I worked there. When I asked her about it, she smiled and looked at me humbly. She told me, “I just don’t take no for an answer.” She grew up selling appliances and found from a young age that not only could she sell, she could do it well. Taking something she was good at and developing an iron will made her a weekly success story.

• Be willing to suffer for it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t all end with determination. If it did, Hollywood would have a hard time finding inspirational stories to make blockbusters. Be willing to suffer for your craft. I’ve known too many people who gave up on their dreams when things got a little rough and never went back - though they looked back often. I constantly hear about regrets. If it takes getting paid half of what you deserve to work your way to the position in your dreams, do it. If you don’t, someone right behind you will. If you have to deny yourself luxuries for a time, do it. Ask yourself which you’d prefer in the long run - “what if” becoming your most common thought? Or living a story you can tell your grandchildren one day?