How Bad Do You Want Your Dreams To Come True?

Do you remember that nice car you wished you could buy?

What about the 5 long, exotic holidays per year?

Is your health in place yet?

I deeply wish that all of those things happened already. But if not, this letter comes handy.

Excuses are like smoking. They momentarily ameliorate the pain, but kill you faster long term.

Every people I know has at least one thing he didn't have, one ambition that is not accomplished yet, or an experience still yet to come.

It may be embarrassing to make promises and when you're asked about their status, to respond as:

Ah, I kind of quit that
I didn't do much progress
I didn't have time

Ego is the first to fire up: I cannot accept telling Andrew that I couldn't stick to what I said.

You are prone to lie you're doing better rather than accepting you did nothing in regards. Ego has to be satisfied.

The good news is I've discovered long the way the fastest weapon to avoid these situations: be authentic.

To dissect what authenticity refers to in today's context, I have to draw a couple of adjacent implications:

What was the reason behind wanting that dream?

We hold a tremendous amount of thoughts, actions and dreams which are taken from childhood, parents or people we admire.

And is nothing wrong with that, as long we certainly know that we decided to chase that dream. What we want is to just create sources of inspiration.

Otherwise, we would chase dreams that would satisfy the ego:

Wanting money to prove you are better
Buying a Mercedes to show off
Getting implants to be more appealing
Ordering the Rolex

Those are perfectly fine dreams as long you want them for yourself, not to prove the exterior wrong.

Losing after winning requires even more mental work to not get affected.

Do you want to achieve it anymore?

Trying something you don't really want just for the sake of trying, doesn't bring any substantial value.

This example targets those moments you feel in despair because nothing works, a lot of time passed by and nothing changed, so you decided to pick Steven's approach.

But the problem is you don't like it. It feels like it's not for you. But you're gonna do it anyway. I personally see 2 outcomes:

If you have amazingly strong resilience, you can become very good at that, and eventually hit the bank.

Otherwise, you're just going to lose even more time, getting more frustrated, trying something you don't like.

Pick your pick and stick with it.

Look, there is another critical thing: life itself. The aging process to be more specific. We can indeed delay it through a healthy lifestyle, but death is still inevitable. Yet.

And that came just now into my mind and for a good reason: I have a first class train seat, and looking around me, I see only with people over 60 my in coach. It's weird to some degree.

But this gives more power to accomplish as many things I can, as fast as I can, but as healthy as possible. Why? Because I see around me teenagers and young parents getting paid less, taxed more and having their life overview limited because of stress.

Money is important, but should be just a consequence of your values, not your target.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather explore myself and seek opportunities early than waiting another 40 years to get a first class train, a nice car, an amazing holiday, or whatever it would be.

To summarize the actionable point: the moment I decided to switch my focus from money to values was the moment the Universe gave me chances to grow, and money followed.

List here common excuses:

I don't have enough time
I'm too tired
I'll start tomorrow
I am not ready yet
It's too late to start now
I need more information

All those may be valid, but the harsh truth is that your dreams don't care about how valid your reasons are.

Letter's Quest

It's gonna be a bumpy road, don't expect it to be as easy as it sounds by reading it.

I need you to choose a dream, no matter how big it is. Think about it for a few seconds. About you accomplishing it. Seems impossible? All right, let's go further.

Step 1: Break it down. Identify one specific action you can take today that will move you closer to your goal, no matter how small. Commit to completing it by the end of the day.

Step 2: Confront an Excuse. Identify one excuse you’ve been using to avoid action (e.g., "I don’t have time"). Challenge this excuse by finding a solution: wake up earlier, stay less on social media, cook in bulk, whatever suits you.

Step 3: Take a Risk. Do something outside your comfort zone related to your dream. This could be reaching out to a mentor, sharing your idea publicly, or starting the side hustle you've been delaying. Just embrace the discomfort and take action anyway. Trust me, it's a life game changer to take risks.

Step 4: Celebrate and Reflect. Take time to celebrate the actions you’ve taken, no matter how small the outcome. Reflect on what you’ve learned about yourself rather than your dreams. Write down how you’ll continue taking action in the weeks ahead, and set a specific goal for next week.

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