Follow your dreams! Turn your passion into a job. Live the life you dream of! This is what most motivational speakers or writers talk about. Including me.

My whole purpose of my blog is too inspire individuals to turn their dreams into reality. I want you to fulfill your wildest dreams, while becoming the best version of yourself! But I also want to keep it real with you. Which is why I wanna talk about the things no one talk about when it comes to following your dreams.

It can get lonely

You have decided to break free from the mold and go against the majority. Congratulations! You have taken the step 99% is afraid to take.

But now you’re on your journey on your own.

Your friends and family are discouraging you. They don’t understand the sacrifices you have to make in order to live your dreams. The club nights out; you’re choosing to miss out so you can wake up bright and early and put in the work. The social gathering you’re skipping to meet your deadline. The shopping trip you aren’t joining, because you want to invest your money in your dreams. All this might even cause you to lose friends and some family might become distant.
As discouraging this may seem, trust me it’s also a blessing. It will allow you to get comfortable with being alone and filter out “the real ones”. Who will stick by you through your journey, despite your physical absence? Who are the family and friends that support you and respect your grind? These are the ones who will be with you at the finish line.

It doesn’t happen overnight

Jeffree Star? One of my favorite make-up guru’s who now earns multi-millions per year? He only struggled with his music career for years, worked at MAC and put in all his savings to create his make-up empire to afford all the Gucci and Prada he wears now.

You know Twitter? The platform Mr. Donald Trump overuses as his ventmachine? It only took Twitter about 8 years to actually become Twitter.

Gary Vaynerchuck? The entrepreneur you can’t unsee even if you wanted to? He started his own Wine Library TV at the age of 30, after he had already been running his father’s business for nearly a decade, working 20 hours a day for years to become the overnight success people claim him to be 10 years later.

Our favorite Colonel? Colonel Sanders who brought life to KFC? It only took him multiple failures to become an overnight success at the age of 56. Badabing, badaboom. Just like that.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed a couple of examples of “The Iceberg Illusion”. Where people only see the success, but don’t see what lies beneath the surface. We didn’t witness the hours that were put to reach this kinda success. We don’t know what kinda sacrifices were made in order for these companies to be a hit.
All we see are the results. The millions they earn. The flashy lives they live. The multiple businesses they own. And we want those results too. Hell, I want those results! Rather sooner than later. We want it today. This isn’t how it works, tho. Many of us believe that not reaching these results overnight, means we have failed and quit. I know, I did.

We achieve our dreams by being consistent. By being persistent. By keeping in mind our dreams are long-term goals and therefore can’t be reached in short-term periods. In the wise words of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: “Success isn’t overnight. It’s when everyday you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.”

There’s no infinite inspiration

You know that pumped feeling you have when you get an idea? The energy flowing through your body. Your mind does overtime. Don’t you love that inspired feeling?

Hate to break it to you; it’s not going to last.

 

Another reason why many people give up. Of course having inspiration is wonderful, but it’s a momentum. It will fade away. These are some of the hardest moments, because how does one go on without inspiration? The key is to constantly be re-inspired. In “The subtle art of not giving a fuck” Mark Manson talks about inspiration being an endless loop. Actually he talks about motivation being an endless loop, but since inspiration is part of it I think it’s still applicable. It’s:

Inspiration → Motivation → Action → Inspiration → Motivation → Action → Inspiration → Motivation → Action etc.

As you can tell in order to stay inspired, taking action is required.

I know this might appear very demotivating. But if you still wanna follow through on your dreams, despite knowing these truths? Good! I like your determination. Keep this up and we will reach our wildest dreams.