Is dreaming big a mistake?

[Gotah 2,382]

Do you guys think that having big dreams for your future as a young adult could be a risky thing?

I do have goals in my life that I want to reach but I feel like they might be to unrealistic and will lead to great dissapointment later in life if I won't be able to get what I wanted.

Is it better to step down a little and set yourself more realistic goals for your future to avoid potential delusions or does dreaming big get you far? What do you think?

[steve25805 126,021]

22 minutes ago, Gotah said:

Do you guys think that having big dreams for your future as a young adult could be a risky thing?

I do have goals in my life that I want to reach but I feel like they might be to unrealistic and will lead to great dissapointment later in life if I won't be able to get what I wanted.

Is it better to step down a little and set yourself more realistic goals for your future to avoid potential delusions or does dreaming big get you far? What do you think?

There is no harm in dreaming big if it motivates you to achieve, as long as you can be content with those achievements if you fail to reach your big goals.

As the Rolling Stones lyrics go - "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you might just find, you get what you need."

[gldenwetgoose 21,487]

Personally - and my opinion quite often isn't right with hindsight...

We definitely should instil into our young people (whether as parents, teachers, media people or whatever) that those young people most definitely, 100% completely should have positive hopes and dreams for the future.  They should also have a realistic idea of how to achieve that dream.

Alongside that though has got to be the understanding that life sometimes deals lemons, they have to have a fallback plan, and they have to understand that's not failure. Sometimes different doors open and lead the path for us to follow even if we don't know at the time.

How many kids want to be a model of pop icon, they see the only way being to go to a reality show audition.  If that's your dream, work at it - don't just expect a magic wand and someone to pick you overnight - go and work for it. Start at the bottom, sweat, cry, exhaust yourself - and when you achieve the dream never forget where you came from. 

[Peefreak99 3,722]

A man with no dreams is just a cheep roaming around for no good reason. You need to have goals and dreams in order to push forward but you also need the right mentality. Things are going to fuck up at times and you have to be able to handle that sure you can break something and scream and shout for a while if that helps but after that you either have to be able to retry or set another goal or else you will just roam around. Mabye i sound harsh but hey the world is a harsh place 

[PissFanOmega 206]

On 2/1/2020 at 4:58 PM, Gotah said:

Do you guys think that having big dreams for your future as a young adult could be a risky thing?

I do have goals in my life that I want to reach but I feel like they might be to unrealistic and will lead to great dissapointment later in life if I won't be able to get what I wanted.

Is it better to step down a little and set yourself more realistic goals for your future to avoid potential delusions or does dreaming big get you far? What do you think?

I'm a realist with actual experience with this, and I'm not going to sugar-coat it for you like some people might, so here it is:

"Dreaming big" doesn't mean jack shit in the real world. Most people do not have their dream job. Most people end up at a dead-end job they hate, just to pay the bills. Do you think those people didn't have big dreams when they were younger?

Those who go to college end up getting a little piece of paper that says they're qualified to do a certain job, but it makes little difference if there are no openings for that job, or if you can't afford to relocate. The result in such cases are the same: Stuck at a dead-end job, paying bills, and additionally paying off that student loan.

So, dream big all you like, I'm not going to tell you what to do, just don't expect it to pay off; that's real life.

You need to set realistic goals, regardless of the situation, so if you recognize that you're not doing that, then you need to start doing so.

[Gotah 2,382]

1 hour ago, PissFanOmega said:

Most people do not have their dream job. Most people end up at a dead-end job they hate, just to pay the bills. Do you think those people didn't have big dreams when they were younger?

That's exactly what keeps me up at night. So many people had the same kind of "passion" I have now and ended up being nothing and I'm worried that I'll end up like one of them, which is honestly more than plausible.

1 hour ago, PissFanOmega said:

So, dream big all you like, I'm not going to tell you what to do, just don't expect it to pay off; that's real life.

You need to set realistic goals, regardless of the situation, so if you recognize that you're not doing that, then you need to start doing so.

Always appreciate an honest answer, thank you!

[PissFanOmega 206]

11 minutes ago, Gotah said:

That's exactly what keeps me up at night. So many people had the same kind of "passion" I have now and ended up being nothing and I'm worried that I'll end up like one of them, which is honestly more than plausible.

I get it. Been there, done that. It's not a great situation.

In my case, I spent a good solid decade trying to do something I wanted to do, and it ended up never happening. Today, I regret actually having spent so much time on it, but it was something I really liked doing at the time. If I had known it would lead to the dead-end that it did, I would have done something else. I might have even stumbled onto what I do now, which was also a passion, but one I should have been doing a long time ago. I might have been better off if I'd focused on this, instead of that.

Of course, I'm not saying "give up on your passion" or anything like that, I'm just saying that you shouldn't expect it to pay off. Maybe it's something you can do in your spare time, or similar? If so, that might be a good idea.