Achieving Dreams and Goals

Many people say you should never give up on your dreams. If you work hard you can achieve anything. And I have seen it happen with some people but not everyone. And even in myself. But doesn’t achieving your dreams come with a certain amount of luck as well?

Obviously I can only really comment on my own life and things that I want to or wanted to do and achieve. And outsiders may say things like : “you should have done this” or ” do it this way”. And its always easier from the outside because we never know what’s going on in the background of somebody’s life. The things someone is capable of can be affected greatly by outside influence. For example, I cant just up and start take acting classes because I want to be on TV. I have a day job that has high demand of me. Why would they (my employer) just say “sure take time to go and pursue your dreams”. Also I have a family, and they need providing for. If I quite my job and pursue an acting career, who is going to do the providing? Because its guaranteed that I’m not going to land a job any time within my first week of auditions. Unless there is an element of luck. Or you know somebody. Its not what you know, its who you know. And is there a difference between dreams and goals?

But doesn’t being successful or achieving dreams and goals require a certain amount of risk? I think so. But do I want to risk my loved ones well being just to achieve a dream? Because its not a guarantee that I will achieve that dream and just because its a dream and you work out ways to try and achieve it, doesn’t mean its a dream you are going to be good at. People have dreams of being singers, and I’m sure we have all seen what happens on those reality shows. Its a dream, but it doesn’t mean your good at it.

So if you have a dream, lets say singing, and you have come to find that you’re not that good at it, do you give it up? That would then mean you are not working hard to achieve your dream. But what can you do? Do you live the rest of your life singing to yourself in the shower, because at least the water running will spare the ears of those around you, or do you then spend money to get coaching to help you? Because its your dream, and you must work hard at it to achieve your dream. Do you have money to afford the coaching? Do you have time for the coaching? Where do you draw the line at achieving dreams and goals? Does that then make you a quitter? Or are you being realistic? It seems to be a horrible scenario but I’m sure many people find themselves in that situation.

Certain things I have wanted to do in my life often have me sitting and wondering if I can still achieve them. And it can lead to a moment of depression. You feel like a looser or a quitter, but what are your options? Sometimes and probably most often we cant find a way to achieve what we want to achieve, and thats why I feel a lot of the time it comes down to luck. You may be good at something, and the universe finds a way to expose you to someone or something that makes achieving your goal that much easier.

For example, a young person, or lets just say a person because maybe they aren’t that young, has a dream of being a singer. And they have a really good voice. They spend hours singing and looking for ideas to expose themselves. Possibly even resorting to social media, maybe making a YouTube video. Then suddenly somebody out there just happens to see their video, and BOOM!! They get offered all kinds of things. Now with all the people taking this approach, possibly millions, surely its luck that gets them noticed?

Now, to achieve that dream, was it making a video that was the hard work? Well in my opinion, its not that hard to record yourself singing and put it on social media. Is it hard work to build the courage to expose yourself like that? Maybe. Was it lucky that the right people saw your video to be able to help you achieve your dream? In my opinion – HELL YES! Would it be considered hard work going through that process for months, even years, hoping to be seen by the right people? That would seem to be a lot of work to achieve your dream. So is a lot of work and hard work two different things? Or are they the same thing?

Maybe dreams and goals that fall into the “Arts” or “sports” category take a lot of work, and dreams or goals of an academic standard take hard work. Or visa versa. Or both. Who am I to say. But if you haven’t achieved a goal or a dream and its eating at you, maybe its actually ok to say “you know what, things just didn’t work out for me”. But when do you draw the line and say enough is enough. Do you wait for somebody to say “hey listen buddy, you’re no good, rather focus on something else”. Or do you ignore the nay sayers and at the risk of looking like a fool say “NEVER” and keep trying, because that’s what it takes to achieve a dream or goal. Never giving up, Hard work. Lots of work.

Maybe some people are just destined to be achievers, and maybe some people have dreams that wont be achieved. Its an on going debate I have with myself. And its not easy. Do you have to be realistic, or is that giving up in a way. Who’s to say. I think for many of us its a conversation we need to have with ourselves. Because only we can truly know what is happening in the background of our lives. A big part of me says “SCREW IT, keep looking for ways to achieve what you want”. But if it becomes tiring, or demoralizing, even negatively affecting those around you, perhaps its better to explore other avenues. And who knows where those avenues might lead.

For me, I’m not that scared to make a fool of myself. And while I may not like failing, I’m not scared of it. I say give it a shot and see. But I also am not afraid to look at myself and say : Look buddy, this is something that just isn’t worth pursuing. Find something else.

And maybe that’s the secret. Maybe its not giving up on a dream or goal, maybe its looking for another one. Be it work orientated, sport, singing, acting, whatever. Try your hand at something new. At the very least you might learn something new. But it may lead to exceptional growth, meeting new friends, discovering something you never even new existed. Maybe even a hidden talent. All these things can lead to a sense of achievement. And in the end, isn’t that what we had in mind? To achieve something.

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