The #1 Reason Why Pursuing Your Dreams is a Terrible Idea and What to Do About It
The number 1 reason it’s a terrible idea for an individual to pursue their dream — no matter how big or small — is that people (in general) don’t have the right perspective or mindset to get the job done!
It’s really that simple.
Your next question may be, “Well, what perspective or mindset does one need to have in order to make pursuing dreams a good idea?”
The answer to that is (thankfully) also very simple.
In general, people do not understand how to handle failure. People tend to see failures as true failure and not as stepping stones, a lessons, signs that they are getting closer to the achievement of whatever the dream happens to be.
There are 3 perspectives one can take, and in this article, I’d like to tell you where each of these originated for me.
It is important to note that adopting these 3 perspectives isn’t a one time deal; it’s a campaign; it’s a philosophy; it’s a way of life to be lived day in and day out!
If you can master these 3 perspectives, you will find that your worst days happen to be also your best days, and that will make all the difference as you carry on in pursuit of the best life possible! By mastering them, you can truly find Heaven on Earth!
Perspective 1: There’s an advantage in every disadvantage
This is where it all started for me. I had the luxury of meeting my multi-millionaire mentor about 7 months after I made a commitment to myself to pursue my full potential for the rest of my life.
One of the first lessons I learned from my mentor was that there’s an advantage in every disadvantage. I’m fully aware that he’s not the originator of that principle, but since he was the first one to share it with me, he gets the title as the ‘originator’ of that phrase in my life.
After he taught me this perspective, I started living by that philosophy.
I mean, my mentor is an 81-year old African-American business leader, philanthropist, humanitarian, and true salesman whose company was once valued at $250,000,000! He’s sat side-by-side with Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, and was a groomsmen in a wedding where Nelson Mandela was the best man! He’s shared the stage with Margaret Thatcher and Amos of Famous Amos Cookies. How could I not listen to a business legend?
According to him, he’s read Think and Grow Rich over 300 times. After reading it once, I saw that “there’s a seed of an equivalent or greater advantage in every disadvantage” was one of Napoleon Hill’s main principles in the chapter on persistence.
I adopted this principle and my life changed completely! Since adopting this perspective, every time I have looked for an advantage in what appears to be a disadvantage, I have found my advantage! I’m not exaggerating!
To my mentor and Napoleon Hill, thank you for sharing this message. For me to say that this perspective has been essential in the pursuit of my dreams would be light years beyond an understatement.
Perspective 2: Life is always happening for you and not to you
Anthony “Tony” Robbins! My brother! I’ve never met you, and you’ve never met me, but I just want to thank you eternally for sharing with me, that “Life is always happening for me and not to me.”
Again, I’m sure he got some variation of this from one of his many mentors, but he was the first to share it with me in this very simplistic and meaningful way.
I simply can’t agree with him enough on this because it helped me rise out of a slump and into my pursuit of my full potential.
As humans, we all have challenges. Perhaps Warren Buffett’s challenges will be a bit different in nature and magnitude than the beggar’s, but they both have ‘problems’ to deal with!
The successful dreamer will understand that when the ‘bad’ things happen in life, they are happening for their advancement as opposed to contributing to their detriment.
The bigger the dream, the bigger the shit — I hate using profanity in my speeches, writings, and videos, but I feel that I wouldn’t be being myself to not let one go in public every now and then. Someday, I hope to offer my audience an option of “With/without profanity” like Gary V. LOL… hilarious guy! I digress… — you are bound to deal with.
I say go big or go home when it comes to dreams!
But… and this is a very BIG but!!!
You MUST understand the 3 perspectives in this article or you are really setting yourself up for disappointment — which of course can be learned from later on down the road if you learn the perspectives.
If you want to be a successful dream achiever, these perspectives are not optional.
Thank you Tony and Tony’s mentors for sharing this principle and perspective with the world. It has helped me appreciate everything that has happened in my life — the “good” and the “bad” alike.
Perspective 3: There’s opportunity in all chaos; you’ll find it if you look for it
This third perspective is one that I developed myself, and it is very similar to perspectives 1 and 2.
Less than three years ago, I was addicted to alcohol, smoking, unhealthy eating, and unhealthy life habits. I had no aim and no purpose. I was a doctor (veterinarian) at an early age, but I didn’t have a true purpose in life, and I wasn’t doing anything intentional and/or deliberate to work towards my full potential. As a result, I was in a very fast downward spiral.
I was destroying my health, my marriage, and my career. My life was in chaos.
I feared failure. I feared success. I feared everything, and I used alcohol to make all of the chaos of my life make sense and feel good. What an error!
I would drink and drive on the way home from work everyday and drink some more when I got home. Before I knew it, days had turned to weeks and the weeks had turned into a few years.
Something eventually came over me (the day after the 2016 presidential election), and I decided to end all of the B.S. right then and there.
That day, I committed to excellence. Soon after, I found my mentor, and the quote by Robbins.
My life has been truly amazing since! There have been challenges, but I’m not phased by them anymore. They don’t own me. My life is perfect the way it is, but it’s not yet complete.
Today, I’d like to share something with you — whoever you are — that I hope will help you in your pursuit of your dreams, full potential, and best life possible.
And that is:
There is opportunity in ALL chaos. There’s no way that there can’t be!
My life was the definition of chaos, but instead of shaming myself, I found opportunity in my story of chaos to help many people who were in need of my story to make sense of the ‘chaos’ in their own lives.
It is amazing to see how fantastic life can be when you can smile — either externally or internally — at the seeming chaos in life.
Sometimes, you’ll have to look reeaaaaaaaaaaally long and hard to find the opportunity and advantages. Sometimes, it will be really painful as you look for it, but if you look for it and never stop looking until you find it, I assure you with 100% certainty that you will most certainly find the opportunity!
Summary
I’m not parroting back to you the principles and perspectives my mentor, Robbins, Hill, and the other dreamers of the world have shared. Instead, I’m a living testimony to their truth and effectiveness!
I’ve used these perspectives with difficult things from my childhood and during my current dream pursuit.
When you understand that there’s an advantage in every disadvantage…
When you understand that life is always happening for you and not to you…
When you understand that there is opportunity hidden deep within each moment of chaos that you face in life…
You will see that failure isn’t really failure. You will see that no matter how big your dream is and how much crap you face along the way, you can live your dream. You will see that the obstacles along the way are your dream’s best friends. You will see the challenges as growth opportunities.
And lastly…
Your worst days will most certainly become your best days, and you will have achieved Heaven on Earth.
Live your dream!
If this message resonated with you, please give a few claps and leave a comment!
