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“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
Ask young children what they want to be when they grow up and you’ll get all kinds of answers. A ballerina. A firefighter. An astronaut. A master chef. They have bold dreams and while they may not really know how to achieve them, they intuitively recognize that these dreams take time. Somehow, in our growing pragmatism, we can lose those ambitions as we get older. It’s too hard. It’s going to take too much time.
But is that really the way we should approach life? Earl Nightingale
Indeed, your goals and dreams aren’t going to become reality on their own. You have to transcend your dreams by putting in the effort. Time is our most precious commodity, to be sure, but time is going to be spent no matter what you do. It is oftentimes said that your goal each day should be that you become a better man or woman than you were yesterday. This could be through enriching the lives of others, gaining knowledge, or getting that much closer to some of your bigger objectives. Be better.
There is a certain level of stubbornness that can be very healthy. As such, just because something seems difficult doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do it. Life is hard, but it should be. That’s what makes life interesting and that’s what makes life worth living. You just have to stick with it.
For more life lessons from Earl Nightingale, have a look at some of his books like The Strangest Secret
Hat tip to Lesley for inspiring this post.
While I completely agree with this quote, I do believe that you need realism too. Not all people are made to be a firefighter or policeman or whatever. You need to look at yourself to see what your real strengths are so that you can actually live a productive life.