Some of the most successful people in the world are dreamers. Or should I say, dreamers who succeeded. It is not easy to be a dreamer and pursue a dream. Many people are dreamers but few pursue their dreams. Parenting has a lot to do with it. How your parents raised you, for the most part, determines whether or not you will pursue your dreams. Many parents will tell their children that they can later become whatever they want in life, but then criticize them when they feel that their children express an interest in pursuing some dream that has an unlikely chance of coming true. The fact is that most dreamers who pursue their dreams fail. They fail because they quit. They give up their dream. They are influenced by those around them to take the well-marked path of life, traveled by the masses, instead of the path that does not have beacons and, worse, it leads you to other paths that do not have beacons either. You see that being a dreamer means that you are one of those oddities in life. You are on the outside looking at everyone else who is doing it safe. Being a dreamer is fraught with so many risks, so many variables. Frankly, it’s a miracle that we have dreamers chasing their dreams. You see, being a dream chaser is a very rare thing.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, was a dreamer. He spent years, without compensation, interviewing Andrew Carnegie (founder of Bethlehem Steel, at one time the largest steelmaker in the world). Carnegie agreed to share with Hill, in detail, his secrets to financial success. There were many secrets and many lessons to teach. During this long and drawn out process of interviewing Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Hill’s family and friends urged him to stop wasting his valuable uncompensated time with Mr. Carnegie and get a job like everyone else. Mr. Hill acknowledges that many times he considered quitting smoking. Only by sheer force of will and a fanatical desire to pursue his dream of uncovering the secrets of success was Hill able to carry on. Although he hesitated and often stood his ground. He continued to pursue his dream. It wasn’t easy but we all know how the story ends. Think and Grow Rich remains a best-selling self-help book today. To date, it has sold more than 30 million copies. Just amazing! What if Mr. Hill had listened to his family and friends and quit?
The downside of being a dream chaser
Being a dream chaser comes at a cost. It takes a time commitment to pursue a dream. There may also be a financial commitment. What you lose by chasing a dream is potential compensation for time “lost” in chasing your dream. You can also lose the money invested in pursuing your dream. There is also the emotional turmoil imposed on the dream chaser that takes its toll. The ups and downs of chasing a dream are enough to drive you crazy. In a minute you feel your dream come true only to have the rug removed from under you. The next minute, your dream seems to have been ruined, only for some event to occur that rekindles the possible realization of your dream. Dream chasers know too well what I’m talking about here. When your investment of time and money begins to affect your family and perhaps your friends, that’s when your dream pursuit is challenged. That’s when everyone around you will start telling you that it’s time to stop chasing your dream; that you’re just wasting your time. You will be told to lift your head out of the clouds and stop chasing after the bronze ring. And all these people are right. Being a dream chaser means that you are not living your life like everyone else. You are on the outside looking in. Most dreamers end their search when their relationship with their immediate family begins to crumble and fall apart. That’s when most dream chasers cut the bait. Losing your family just isn’t worth making the dream come true. It just isn’t. The dream dies and the dreamer jumps onto the well-traveled road; intact family.
The advantage of being a dream chaser
Successful dream chasers (dream achievers) change the world. They are the reason we have TV, radio, airplanes, computers, cell phones, software applications, frozen food, toys, no more black death. Those who achieve dreams change the world we live in and reap untold financial rewards. Rewards that cannot be spent in five generations, much less in one generation. Those who achieve dreams alter the course of humanity. They prove everyone else wrong and the masses jump off the path they were on to jump onto the path traveled by the dream achiever. They are risk-averse followers of the crowd. So when a dream chaser is successful, he acquires a new status. It becomes like a god.
If you have a dream that you are chasing, congratulations. I applaud you. You will most likely stop smoking at some point. Almost everyone does. But I hope you don’t. I hope this article inspires you to continue; to wish to continue pursuing his dream. The world depends on the dream chasers. Without them we would still be living in caves and painting on the walls.