3 Things Are Destroying Your Dreams

I'm not a morning person, I'd rather play video games until 2am.

To change jobs? What if I'm not good at it? I'll be destroyed.

Of course I'm spending tons of money on medication, society wants us sick.

I should have taken that path 5 years ago.. Now it's too late to change anything.

Do you spot the pattern in all those scenarios? Every single statement leads to procrastination, to the comfortable life you already know how to live. Even though it's not the one you want.

The lightbulb in the image represents your creative spark, don't let it shut down. It's the only way you can bring joy and purpose to every single day. We, as humans, are meant to create, and there's even a word for our history: evolution.

Thousands of years ago, people cheated, betrayed, killed and lied. Sounds very familiar to how we are currently living, I know, and there's one more common thing: neither then nor now, these actions stop us from getting better and better.

Until some time ago, based on what history says, most of the population was grew as slaves, fearful of not being killed, punished through starvation or sold by their master. Although it was a terrible life, just look around.

You work to earn money. Money buys food and rent, so you don't die. That work is essentially meaningless.

They made a chess move that propagated in our everyday life since slaves era began to fade out: the feeling of owning. To finally feel like a master, even though you're not. But the thirst to show off is so ingrained into our ego that we desperately refuse to accept the trap we are into.

Do you think that the 0% interest credit cards were made by kindness just for you? Banks are never losing. The more you spend, the more money they make. But who then owns the Gucci bag, latest iPhone Pro Max and a BMW? Who's then considered a made person in front of other people for which life simply doesn't make any sense?

As long as you're earning money through a bank loan, you're using it very well, and both of you win, that's a fair trade. But in the end, it's not money giving life a meaning.

Would you rather be a rich slave or a poor master?

Look on Reddit, Instagram and YouTube, and plenty of depressed people will tell their "successful not successful" story. Once they've figured their way out and got rich, they realised that "fulfillment" was still missing.

Do you know why rich influential people grab so much attention? Because they are selling your dream: a lot of houses, dozens of exotic cars, several hot sex partners and amazing trips in the top luxurious hotels.

It's a foundational selling concept: sell the prospect the dream, not the way there. The problem is that people following them and buying their courses don't even know what they want in life. They don't want specifically those benefits, but the status they would have if they could do or own all those things.

It's a nasty game that our mind likes to play, but in the meantime, we are increasing the distance towards our goals.

I personally found 3 main obstacles that prevented me from taking the path I felt was mine.

Comfort Zone

Between 2022 and 2023 I lived 5 straight months of hope. The company I was working for was sold and I've been told that I was proposed by the new director to become a product owner for one of their products.

My relationship was at distance since 3 months at that time, and I was thinking of moving abroad with my partner. But when I heard that exciting offer, we discussed and commonly agreed to see how that would go.

It was early December. 2 weeks after, nothing happened. I asked the intermediator if everything is ok, and he reassured saying that it was a busy period, but will remind the director about me. One month, nothing. Two months, nothing but defensive words.

My slave mind did the worst move it could do: hmm, he's not convinced I can handle that position, let's work way harder!. And I did! I was the best programmer in the team, officially.

In March, when I got back from a holiday, my leader called me saying he has good news.

I told myself: Ahhh, finally! I knew my hard work and patience will pay off. When he said that the good news is a raise of 8%, my reality got fucked up.

This is what delusional comfort can do: destroy your vision of a wonderful world. I preferred the comfort over growth, but it fortunately led me towards the same action I should have done 5 months earlier: find another job and move abroad with my loved one.

Fear of Losing

When Just Overload was ready to launch, there was almost nobody knowing about it. So I had to tackle the next step of being a one person business: increase product visibility.

The problem was my fear of filming myself:

• It would be the first time
• I don't know how to edit videos
• I'm not a native English speaker and I'd sound weird

Those were just masks of the true and only fear: losing my image's reputation. I knew inside that I would do a mediocre job since it would be the first time, so my slave mind told me again: don't risk to be considered silly.

I listened to that voice for months, until I finally decided to take the first shot at the encouragement of a good friend. What happened blew my mind: lots of people congratulated me and joined the app!

The risk of not taking risks is filling your life with regrets.

Being a Victim

I've spent 4 years finishing my college and another year to get my first developer job. So 5 years in total. I thought that's my life, I'll be a high paid employee, doing the thing I like, until I retire.

Since AI emerged, the tax exemption completely flew in 2 years, and jobs are fewer and fewer. Of course the IT sector is not the only one to be affected, and this is even more scary.

Usually, when some jobs were about to be deprecated, people could re-orientate towards something else. But as of today, there are way too many people looking to re-orientate, so I do not clearly see a bright future.

I could easily remain in the victim position and cry myself a river for the years I've spent learning and mastering a thing which is now on its way to end.

Luckily, every time I fought the hard thoughts that would put me down, I won. This is one of the main reasons why I started these letters and the business.

I simply don't know where those are going to lead me, but at least I'm doing what I find meaningful.

Observe and analyze your everyday thoughts. Are they a trigger of comfort, fear or victimization? If so, create a plan to solidify the weak points in your life. Never stop providing energy to the lightbulb!

Until the next letter, I wish you success in everything you're up to!