Before You Go Chasing Your Dreams

Last week Andy McKay, Director of Player Development for the Seattle Mariners, tweeted out: “Before you go all in on chasing your dream, don’t forget to read the ‘fine print’ of that contract that you will need to make with yourself.”

Here’s that fine print:

1. The journey will take longer than you hoped.
2. The obstacles will be more numerous than you ever could have believed.
3. The best version of you won’t always show up.
4. People you count on will let you down.
5. You will have your heart broken.
6. That voice in your head won’t always be saying the right things and helping you.
7. You will have to sacrifice more than you ever thought possible.
8. You will be negatively impacted by things you can’t control.
9. Your best efforts won’t always be rewarded.
10. Confidence in yourself and your ability to compete will fluctuate more than ever.

“The good news,” he writes, “is that overcoming and embracing the ‘fine print’ of your dreams will give you the character you need to sustain your dream once you achieve it.”

In his book, Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions to Help You See It and Seize It (Amazon), John Maxwell writes about the same thing. Far from being a discouragement from following your dreams, though, Maxwell writes, “The trick is to balance the boldness of dreaming with the reality of your situation.“