How Can You Achieve Your Dreams?
Day in and day out, I hear dozens of “great business ideas”, things that “will revolutionize the world”, and the “next million-dollar idea”. And sadly, I would say that less than one percent of these ideas and dreams ever come to fruition. There are lots of reasons why these things do not happen, but I believe that they all stem from 4 main reasons . I want to discuss each one of those here in detail.
4 Reasons Why Your Dreams Aren’t Coming True
One of the biggest drawbacks that hold back most people from achieving their dreams is the amount of time that it can take from thought and vision stage to the actual execution of the dream. In almost all cases, this usually takes years to accomplish and come to fruition. That reason alone weeds out the vast majority of dreamers because as humans we want immediate success and gratification and that never works in business. There are tons of reasons that it takes so long to achieve success in your dreams venture, but most of the time it comes down to the fact that many mistakes are made along with the way and when you are forging new ground and doing something that has never been done before, where do you begin, how do you execute, and how do you stay positive when things take longer than expected or don’t go as planned. Given my profession, I of course always recommend getting the help of a professional who specializes in startups because he or she can help you avoid common pitfalls and lay our YOUR vision out in a way that is easier to execute. It will also help you explain your vision to others easier which I will explain more about later in this blog. Even if you choose to not do that, we recommend that you re-calibrate your thought process and understand that it takes 3 hours to build most cars in a factory, but it takes 6 months to build a Rolls Royce mostly by hand. Building your dream from scratch will also take time. Keep the faith and do not give up when you have to adjust your time table. The best way to offset this is to remember all the other successes that you have had in the past and tie that into what you are doing now. This is sure to work every time!
The second biggest reason that I believe people do not achieve their dreams is that they always face unbelievable discouragement. Sadly, this often comes in the form of financial stress, time stressors, and the stress of near (or imminent) failure. In fact, it is not uncommon at all for even those closest to you in your life to be the first to spew discouragement to you. “this will never work”, “How will we pay our bills”, “you can’t make this work”, or even “others are doing it this way, maybe you should too”. All of these are toxic statements and when they come from those that you love or that are the closest to you in life, they cut incredibly deep. This happens because even those closest to you cannot see your vision or dream because it is yours, not theirs. In many cases, this is more than enough to make even the strongest most dedicated people give up. When a man’s wife makes him question whether he is doing the right thing or puts doubt in the mind about if he can provide for the family or not, it is very easy for him to give up on his dream to “fulfill his duties” as the head of the household. Likewise, if a husband pushes hard and tells his wife that her dream cannot be fulfilled or puts doubt in her mind about whether that dream conflicts with her “duties as a mother and wife”, it becomes very easy for her to give up on her dream. The only way to offset this is to find encouragement in healthy ways that will give you peace and strength in what your goals are. For me, I choose to find my hope, encouragement and guidance in the Lord Jesus Christ through prayer and time in the bible. This always works for me. Since not everyone believes in God, one way to do that is to make a physical list of every single thing that is positive about what you are doing, every single success that you have had along the way, and what makes you happy about your dream and what you are doing. This is sure to help you in your long journey!
The next dream buster comes in the form of Serious Self-Doubt. As mentioned above, how could you not have self-doubt when those closest to you in your life are discouraging you and acting out of fear. Those that you need the most to encourage you and believe in you are almost always the very same people who cause the most damage in this area. This hurt almost always comes from fear on their part and because they cannot understand your drive or your need to succeed in this dream. This is because they most likely do not understand “why you don’t just get a real job” or “why you can’t be happy doing normal things like other people”. The best way to survive this stage for me is and always has been to put my trust in God instead of my own strengths or those around me. People will always let you down and if you put your faith and hope in them, you will be crushed when they doubt you or wrong you. But, All things are possible with God! Another way to work through this issue is to work calmly with those in your life and try as best you can to explain your vision, why you are so driven about it, and the upside potential. Remember that you not only need to calm your fears and self-doubt, but those that exist inside the people you love as well. We also highly encourage you to stay away from outside dream busters and those that are highly negative as they are incredibly influential on your thought process and how you feel about your progress. Stay close to those who support you and love you no matter what.
The last reason in most cases that dreams die is that the discouragement and self-doubt mentioned before turns into Extreme Disapproval from those that you are closest to. This is especially true when you do not give up and hold on to your dream through tough times and haven’t been able to make it work yet or get the approval of those around you. This is sad because I cannot tell you how many times I have seen relationships end in divorce because one spouse was hell bent on making their dream of self-employment come true and the other spouse refused to accept it because of the changes that it brought to the family or themselves. When I consult with self-employed couples, I always ask them one simple question. That questions is “if you succeed in your business but fail in your marriage, is it worth it”. In most cases the couple has never sat down and realized the dire ramifications that came with not being on the same page. Admittedly this was never my strong point in life either and probably still isn’t. My “Type A” personality wants to tell those in my life to get on the bus or move on down the road. So, I know from experience that this is challenging and is probably the most difficult part of the struggle. Because I know this to be true 100%, I also know that this is the stage that you need to use every single tool that is available to you. Far too often people are just sitting back and waiting for things to happen or say things like “I don’t have the right tools, or the right connections, or don’t have enough money”. All of these are doubt and not reality. I believe that God does not give anyone the vision and the dream without Including Or giving access to every single tool and resource that you need to achieve the dream. Even if you refuse to believe in that, the fact remains that there has never been one client of mine that we have not been able to help them achieve their dream regardless of “how few resources they have.” Never wait for your ship to come in, but instead swim out and get it. We encourage you in this scenario to write down every resource and every tool that you DO have and to focus on those instead of whatever you feel that you “don’t have”. This will allow you to be successful with what you have and keep yourself out of the doubt, fear and discouragement phases.
I hope this is helpful to you on your journey to achieve you dream. Always keep the faith and stay confident in yourself and your abilities.
