3 Reasons Why People Don’t Chase Their Dreams
Do you still have dreams of a lifestyle you’d love to attain
or a business you’d like to start? Do you remember how to dream big like our
kids do?
As we grow, we often grow into the mindset that we have to
work hard and we can’t take chances – or chase dreams – because we have to be
responsible, especially if we have a family to support. Mindsets can also be
established unconsciously during childhood, when we hear parents or other
adults continuously saying either positive or negative comments regularly.
Mindset simply refers to “the established set of attitudes
held by someone”. Not everyone has the same mindset and if one person is a risk
taker in one part of their life, they may not embrace the same risk in another
part of their life. Ultimately, one’s mindset plays a huge part in whether they
follow their dreams or not.
Here are 3 ways mindset can sabotage your ability to dream
big and chase those dreams:
1. You think you’re
too old. Age is just a number and, in your mind, if you think you’re too old
to do something, then you won’t do it. Of course, if there is a physical
limitation or risk of doing an activity, then err on the side of caution, but
if you think you’re too old to start a business, think again.
Need some inspiration? Look up the stories of Ernestine
Shepherd and Josefina Monasterio. Both women are grandmothers who have won
hundreds of trophies as body builders. They didn’t let a negative mindset get
in the way of reaching their goals and they started their training at ages 58
and 59, respectively.
2. You’re afraid to
fail. Failing and succeeding are two inevitable results in life, two
opposite ends of a spectrum. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll never know if
your idea was a good one or not. You may be haunted by the “What would have
happened if…?” questions for the rest of your life.
As the famous Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, “I have not
failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Edison is one of the
preeminent inventors of our time and if he didn’t overcome the mindset of giving
up or not being good enough, we probably wouldn’t have the lightbulb,
phonograph, or motion picture cameras today.
3. You lack
confidence. You’ll always have the little devil on your shoulder telling
you to give up because you’re not good enough or there’s someone better than
you. No one is perfect, however, and competition in business is a sign that
there’s money to be made in that market. No matter what business you want to
start, competition is a good sign; you just have to figure out how to stand out
above the other competitors to win your customers.
Did you know that Walt Disney was fired from his first
animation job at the Kansas City Star newspaper because they said he lacked
imagination? Now the Walt Disney Company assets are worth over 98 billion
dollars. So much for “lack of imagination”!