Living the Dream...

The concept of pursuing your dreams has been turned into a cliche, most often uttered by the cynical individuals (including ourselves at times) in our lives who would have us believe that dreams are worthless, and it is a waste of time to fantasize about them. I believe that many people do not pursue certain goals, or "dreams" because of fear, fear that they would try and fail. This fear of failure is crippling, it tricks us into believing that by not trying best, we will never prove that our best is not good enough. Most people would do almost anything to avoid failing, including...fail. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take", and so by not trying, you are failing.

I had a wise teacher once who said that "Most people would rather have the possibility of success in the future, than pursue it in the present" It hit me hard because I realized that I was one of those people. I would love to fantasize how successful a certain idea or endeavor could be, but I would never do anything to bring those fantasies closer to reality.
The only cure for this is action. Choose a dream, make a goal, and make that goal your priority. Chances are, you will have a team of naysayers telling you that whatever you are trying cannot be done (people are good at discouraging each other) But do not listen. Just work on that goal, and accomplish it. Tell somebody else about it, especially some one you know will be encouraging. If you fail the first time, all that means is that you are still on the road to success, and you are better off, having learned what not to do. This post is getting long, but I want to end with a quote from a man that I respect very much, named M. Russell Ballard,

"...Maybe some of you get weary of listening to the principle of setting goals. But let me tell you something about goal setting. I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principle of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in [his] life."