Inspiration and Motivation for People with Big Dreams
At times life can be frustrating and overwhelming. It seems like things are a lot harder than they need to be or nothing is going right. You don’t have to succumb to the negative effects of hard work. Instead, you can reignite the passion in your dream and start succeeding.
You’ve thought about it, talked about it, and done nothing about it. It’s time to get yourself up and get your life on track to follow your dream. As I live my words and follow my dream, I want to share my experiences and advice with fellow dreamers who are ready to live their life, already.
The hardest part is starting to live your dream. You need to have a beginning, a push, a first step. Well, here’s step one.
My friend Rosie who is beautiful, smart, funny, and a very talented musician said she wanted to drop out of college and move to Seattle to pursue her music career. Talk about pursuing your big dreams fully.
When she first told me her plans to drop out and move to Seattle I was excited for her to take on such an immense challenge and pursue her dream so early.
She asked me to take some photos of her for promotional and marketing material. So, on my first photoshoot ever I took pictures of her and learned how to use my camera and work with a model all in one go. Then, when she came back from Seattle to visit, I took more pictures for her. Here they are:
Sometimes it’s hard to support someone’s dream without feeling left behind. Other times it can feel like their dream is not at all what you had hoped it would be.
There are ways to feel like you’re part of the dream and have a positive influence, though.
From this experience, and as a big dreamer myself, I learned a few vital ways to help someone achieve their big dream whether or not you can give them the leg up they need.
Since I posted the first chapter of Big Dreams I’ve gotten a lot of people telling me they don’t know what their big dream is.
So, since I have struggled with this myself from time to time I found the easiest way to pin it down is to ask myself some specific and concrete questions. I’ve written 15 questions that will help you find your dream, but you will probably only need 1 or 2 before it hits you.
Thank you everyone for sending in your Big Dreams. I would like to extend the invitation to everyone else who hasn’t yet had the chance to share you dream with the world. Please do, we’re all dying to hear from you.
Enjoy these inspirational dreams and continue to live your own.
I wanted to become a writer and a teacher of creative writing, but I was told I wasn’t cut out for college because of poor math grades. Then I opted to pursue an associate degree in commercial art instead. I was told (by an art teacher I adored) that the industry was cut throat and that I wasn’t talented enough. Finally, in desperation, I went to my guidance counselor. I was 18 and out of options as to what I would be when I “grew up.” He suggested I go to beauty school.
I have a lot of regrets about the time I wasted in my teens and early 20s. But I have a career I love now (as a writer) and I’m finally content. It only took me 20 years to figure out how to get there.
The bottom line is…listen to the best of the advice you receive, but don’t take it too seriously. Follow your own path.
- KaylyRed
Now go own the world.My 12th grad art teacher told me that art school was too expensive and that I should try community college. Funny how she encouraged another student to pursue art though. Community college was a waste of time. After 3 years I enrolled in a 12 month graphics program only to not find any steady work which is how I ended up where I am today. It was time to start paying on those student loans.
I gave up my dreams and focused on relationships. Watching others around me achieve their goals made me feel left out. I still feel that way. I as encouraged over the years to try but I was afraid and somewhat content. I’m older now(30ish) but, I’m going to take that step this time. I don’t want to wake up as a 60 year old and start playing the “what if” game. Thanks again.
- Ivan
No matter what your dream is, you have to be unique to succeed.
You have to fill a niche.
Niche marketing is the process of finding and serving profitable market segments and designing custom-made products or services for them. ( Wikipedia )
In this case, you are the product. All you have to do to sell yourself is to be yourself.
This doesn’t mean you have to be making money or have any sales at all. Instead, I’m talking about being successful and living your dream because you are you.
If there was only one person whose blood could cure AIDs, wouldn’t they be pretty popular? What if there was only one person that had light skin and everyone else had dark skin? Now, what if someone created a simple and effective search engine when everyone else was trying to add tons and tons of features to their search engines? I’ll give you a hint: Google.
Every best-selling author isn’t the best writer in the world. A lot of actors aren’t beautiful until after they get famous and some never have to be beautiful. Talent works in many ways.
There are people who are more famous than the #1 ranked athlete in their field. The best example of this? Anna Kournikova. Why do you know that name and face so well when you probably can’t name the top 10 female tennis players? Even though she hasn’t won a single open, and has only been to the finals 4 times in her career, she is still one of the most well known female tennis players of all time.
Why is that? Because she is pretty good and tennis and pretty good looking. Now, how does that work to your advantage?
Not only is being the best at one very difficult, but it also limits you. You may have to work your entire life to be the best golfer to ever have lived. Maybe you will be the next Beethoven, that is awesome. But if you want to be amazing at piano, sing, and have ridiculous lyrics, then you might have to sacrifice a bit in each area to be successful. By no means should you give up trying to be the best. Instead, you should try to succumb to your favorite and best talents and allow them to intertwine. In this way you will become unique and successful because no one else is so dedicated to what you do.
As long as you’re following your dream and truly living for it, you will be successful.
Now go own the world.
“I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
If I could remove one saying from all human languages, this would be the one.
These words mean giving up. They mean pushing your responsibility to
someone else. Not taking responsibility for your own life.
Reaching your dream doesn’t happen without setbacks. It takes patience.
Sometimes your dreams are far away, but the only way you can move towards
them is one step at a time.
Here are some ideas for cultivating patience and getting that saying out
of your vocabulary:
If you apply to a school and get a few points too little, study more and
try again next year. If you still don’t get admitted, study still more.
And while studying keep your mind open to see if there could be some other
way of getting admitted than through entrance exams.
If you start a business and your first customer decides not to pay you,
learn new ways to make sure the next one pays and move on.
When someone says that maybe your dream wasn’t meant to be after all,
don’t give in.
It’s your dream. It’s important to you.
Be patient. Work hard. And one day when your dream becomes reality they
will have to take their words back.
Why aren’t you pursuing your dream?
Most people are afraid to pursue their dreams because they don’t know what the future will have in store for them. They don’t know what’s coming. Bad things could happen. How unfortunate that people with skill, talent, and natural ability get lost because of fear.
It takes drive. It takes determination. It takes will. You have to want it so bad that whatever happens in the future is worth the sacrifices.
It’s time to stop fearing the future and start living for it.
Every day won’t be perfect. Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes no one will want to listen to you. Sometimes everyone will turn the other way.
Sometimes you will succeed, though. Sometimes you will win. Sometimes everyone will rejoice and want more of you.
It is the strength to get through the tough times that makes the good times so wonderful.
That’s what makes life worth living. Not knowing how your actions or the actions of others will effect your life is why you keep trying every day. The danger of good things happening, the unknown, even the supposed certainties.
We all know we’re going to die. That’s a certainty. But we’ve all wondered “What if I didn’t die? What if there was a way?”
The danger of the future is what makes it wondrous, exciting, mysterious, enigmatic, fantastic, and worth seeing.
So what are you waiting for? Go get it. Reach for your dream. Your life can only get better from here.
Now go own the world.
I want to hear from you. What do you want to be? What do you want to do?
This isn’t what “could” you do, or what “could” you be. This is your dream. Anything is possible.
I want to hear what it is that you wish you could do with your life. No matter what your dream is. Then, I want to share it with the world.
Option #1: Make your big dream stand out by writing it down or using a visual with it, scan it in to your computer, and then e-mail me at ravi@ravivora.com.
Option #2 (my personal favorite): Write your big dream down somewhere and take a picture of it. Please be as creative and bold as you can with this. Then e-mail me at ravi@ravivora.com.
Option #3: If you don’t have access to a digital camera or scanner you can just write your Big Dream in the comments below or e-mail them to me at ravi@ravivora.com.
Above all, make your submissions meaningful.
I will be sharing some of the Big Dreams anonymously with everyone in a future post. I am really looking forward to the submissions.
Now go own the world.You are currently browsing the Ravi Vora weblog archives for the Big Dreams category.
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