We all know someone, or several people, who have dreams of doing/being certain things, and those people,more often than not, are usually someone close to us: A good friend, a relative, etc.
Fortunately, for them(and all of us as a whole really), one of the positive ideals that has been incorporated into today’s society is the idea of putting everything you have into chasing your dreams, no matter how out of reach they may seem. In a nutshell, the sky is the limit.
As far a back up plan,what back up plan? That only means you’re allowing yourself room for failure. If you really believe in yourself, you’ll chase after what you want to do and allow for no distractions. This is the general mentality of today’s generation and for the most part it’s awesome.
If you were to have a conversation with me then you’d know I’m one of those people. Yes, follow your dream. Yes, follow your passion and don’t make excuses as to why you can’t. After all, how would it look if I, someone who’s looking to get into acting and music, which are two of the most elusive careers around, was going around talking about how I’m looking to get XYZ degree in case things don’t work out. I do those things because I love to do them and I can’t see myself doing anything else.
But I’m not writing this to talk about all that or to necessarily provide more “You Can Do It!” speeches… I specialize in the dealing of reality haha. I’m that friend who will say “But what about so and so” for every lofty idea that’s pitched. I don’t try to bring anyone down but I hate seeing dreamers who are unprepared. It’s one thing to have a dream and something else entirely to be prepared for that dream. Since this subject is close to my heart, I’ll try to be somewhat serious with my following points.
1.) Do you even possess the talent, and if not, what do you plan to do about it?
This is probably the most important question of all. If television has taught us nothing else, it’s definitely shown us that there are a lot of people who think they can do all kinds of things, whether they actually can or cannot. Oh and you’d better believe they’re passionate about it. Just look at American Idol, The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, X Factor, etc and you can see all kinds of people who have quit jobs, hitchhiked across states, and even risked their health to come out and showcase their “talent” in order to achieve their dreams.
But for all those masses of people, only a few are chosen each time. Sometimes it’s because they were the “more” talented/ more likable talent but most times it’s because the rest of the competition simply weren’t talented enough. It’s almost a running gag on every show to see these people give the most passionate life story about their personal struggles in chasing their dreams, only to follow that up with some of the worst musical ability seen since the likes of William Hung(remember him?) but at least he admitted to not having any professional training.
You ask anybody who’s trying to/has made it in any outlet of the entertainment industry and they can probably confirm the validity of this next statement. The industry is filled(maybe even saturated)with people who have the passion but lack the talent, and not the “good enough to get by” talent, I mean truly lack the talent.
These are the same people who want to sing but don’t want to get singing lessons, the same people who want to act but never take a class, the same people who want to rap and think that their Dr. Seuss rhyming ability is going to make them a superstar. Yeah there are people who are born with natural talent and can “easily” excel in their particular field but then there’s everybody else, who has to spend years preparing and honing their craft to move up to the next level. If you cannot convince anyone outside of your immediate family and close circle of friends of just how talented you are, maybe it’s time to find ways to improve.
2.) If you have talent, find the best ways to put it to use:
Because everyone and their mama seems to want to be a celebrity more than anything else, they tend to overlook avenues that allow them to obtain what most of them really want: lots of money/Financial Security.
You don’t have to have Lady Gaga’s level of success/exposure to be financially comfortable, you don’t even have to be publicly known. There are a lot people who are writing songs for these famous singers, writing scripts for these famous producers, and giving classes to these famous actors. You think they aren’t making bank?
Maybe you’re one of those people who’s realized that you’re not going to see your desired level of “celebrity” success in your dream but if you really love to do it, is helping someone else reach their dreams,while partaking in your own, really that bad of a deal? Why does it seem like every ghostwriter/song writer now wants to come out as a solo artist? Or the lesser known artist in a band that suddenly decides that he or she should now go solo? And so on and so forth. My thing is this, no matter how far you get in your dream of choice, where you stop will always be ahead of someone else.
3.) At Least Know What You’re Getting Yourself Into:
It takes very little motivation to convince a person to do something that, at a glance, seems easy. Singing, acting, rapping, etc all appear to be easy, especially if you already have a level of talent in any of those fields. But just like every other occupation, there’s a business side. In music, you hear all the time about “successful” artists who’ve signed terrible contracts and went broke. In acting, you hear about actors who end up owing all this money in taxes because they never learned to manage their finances, etc. Do research. Inspect everything involved in the business of your craft: What it requires, what kind of team you need to build for yourself(they all require a team by the way) and everything else in between. If you’re not willing to do that, then you may not want your dream as much as you think.
4.) Would You Be Willing to Do It For Free?
Last but not least, and equally as important as the first point is this question. Now of course it would be impossible to make a living if you were constantly doing things for free, but if you could never see yourself doing something related to your dream for free then you probably don’t want to do it as badly as you think you do. A genuine love for your passion should always come before anything else.
This entry ended up a little more serious than I originally intended(and definitely longer) but I feel like if we’re going to continue to live in a society that pushes making dreams a reality then people encouraged by that mindset should at least be chasing their dreams with the right knowledge and for the right reasons… But what do you all think? Feel Free to leave a comment below.
