Following a dream isn’t easy, and most of us give up at some point. That’s not exactly something to be ashamed of – you don’t need to see your greatest aspirations come to fruition in order to live a happy life – but it’s not something you should give in to so easily. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to give up on your goals, but there are also more than a few terrible ones.
If you’re going to stop pursuing your highest ambition, that’s your choice. But don’t do so for any of the following reasons:
1. “I’m Not Inspired”
Most dreams involve relying on some degree of inspiration to achieve them. Whether you’re a writer looking for a story for your first novel, or an aspiring doctor striving to come up with an innovative treatment, you know that it helps to have a “big idea” to propel you forward.
The truth is, though, the concept of the genius driven by the muse is pretty much a myth. Some people do find that great ideas simply come to them, like magic, but for the most part, we all have to simply put in a lot of work until we come up with something truly unique. Most professional writers will agree; you don’t sit down at the keyboard with a grand plan about what you’re going to write. You just write until the plan reveals itself, whether that takes two hours or two decades.
2. “It’s Too Much Work”
You’re probably right; whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, odds are good that it will involve putting in a lot of work. That’s not always a pleasant experience, but what’s the alternative? You can live the rest of your life silently wishing that you had done things differently, or you can invest all of your energy into making something amazing happen for yourself. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be successful, but if you don’t try, there is a guarantee that you’ll fail. The effort is worth the possibility of success.
3. “I Don’t Know Where To Start”
Again, you’re probably right. Achieving something significant involves many steps, and it’s difficult to determine which of those should be your first step. Difficult, but not impossible. While we often like to overcomplicate these issues, in truth, our reluctance to begin the process of pursuing an ambition often comes down to a simple fact: we’re lazy.
After all, if you’ve ever worked a job that involved hitting numerous milestones in support of a larger overall goal, you know that, because you were collecting a weekly paycheck, you didn’t question whether or not you were moving in the right direction. You trusted your supervisor to point you there, understanding that, as long as you did as you were told, you got paid either way.
When it comes to your personal goals, though, you may find that, without the guarantee of a consistent reward in the form of a paycheck, you feel less motivation to exert any effort.
The problem is, if you actually forced yourself to sit down and create a strategy, there’s a good chance that you’d come up with a pretty effective one.
4. “I Don’t Have Time”
For some people, it’s true. But it isn’t for you. Why? Because you’re reading this. And if you have the time to read this, then you also have the time to devote to something that you’re passionate about.
Yes, there are those of us out there who have more advantages than others, who have more freedom to work towards their dreams, and that freedom does have an effect on how long it can take to reach your intended destination. However, time is not the only factor; the will to keep working is more important.
5. “I’m Scared Of Success”
Yeah, this one probably isn’t true. To some degree, success may be intimidating, but it’s a lot less scary than failure. The problem is, we’re so overwhelmed with our inability to start the simple process of working towards our goal that we latch onto whatever excuse we can, especially if it’s a cliché that’s unlikely to be questioned.
As such, you may claim that success scares you too much, that it has a paralyzing effect on you, but you’re just fooling yourself there. You’re almost certainly not scared of success. You’re just not particularly motivated to work towards it.
And you don’t want to admit that, because it makes you sound lazy. But, in reality, most of us lack motivation when we don’t have the guarantee of any reward for our efforts. We’re all fairly lazy in that regard. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s simply something to overcome.
