If the urge to pursue one's dreams is strong enough, a person will find ways to take action towards them. In many cases an inner cocktail of fear, laziness and other areas of higher personal importance will prevent a person from taking the crucial first steps. Overcoming those factors is what separates the doers from those who daydream themselves into a rosy future. I am not to judge other persons as I have found myself guilty of it on countless occasions but I have an interesting story to share with you:
A few years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he would really like to become an entrepreneur. I got all ears and starting listening more closely. During the chat he also mentioned his desire to invent something new. My eyes lightened up and I tried to extract a few more nuggets of information out of him. You never know - maybe I accidentally bumped into the perfect co-founder for a future venture? As our discussion progressed, I tried to evaluate in what entrepreneurial stage he currently resided.
Me: "What actions have you taken so far?"
Him: "I am thinking of business ideas all the time."
Me: "No, no! I mean: What have you specifically done so far?"
Him: "Reading the news and trying to come up with a business idea."
Recently I met up with this guy again and asked him about progress. He is still in the thinking stage which disappointed me. But that is the path he chose and I accept it. Thinking only takes you so far. Doing is what ultimately pushes things forward. Sometimes people do not want something bad enough that they push harder and leave the stage of randomly coming across the next big thing. This is perfectly fine and one has to accept it.
I have this experience all the time. People know I am self-employed, and 'do something with computers'. I have to sit through half baked ideas at dinner tables, 'I'd like to have a website that did x', or 'do you think I could do somethign with a website?'. Sometimes I give very specific advice, right down to suggesting which platforms to use and what sort of domain name to get. There was the personal trainer who needed to find more clients, the person with mild success on ebay who wanted to build it into an online store, the educator who wanted to use the net to build inter-school learning materials. They all listen and get excited, nobody ever does anything. My wife tells me I am too hard on them. If I can douse their dreams with a few throwaway comments, then they aren't burning very bright to start with. I think a lot of people engage in dreaming as a way of escapism, not as an actual life plan.
Me? I just dream is was 2008 again, and sales were 30% higher.
A few years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he would really like to become an entrepreneur. I got all ears and starting listening more closely. During the chat he also mentioned his desire to invent something new. My eyes lightened up and I tried to extract a few more nuggets of information out of him. You never know - maybe I accidentally bumped into the perfect co-founder for a future venture? As our discussion progressed, I tried to evaluate in what entrepreneurial stage he currently resided.
Recently I met up with this guy again and asked him about progress. He is still in the thinking stage which disappointed me. But that is the path he chose and I accept it. Thinking only takes you so far. Doing is what ultimately pushes things forward. Sometimes people do not want something bad enough that they push harder and leave the stage of randomly coming across the next big thing. This is perfectly fine and one has to accept it.