Three Things You Need to Fulfill your Dreams

The Walk (2015) is an incredible film about a man who makes an impossible dream come true.

It's the real-life story of Philippe Petit, a high-wire artist who walked across (illegally) the gap between the Twin Towers in 1974. Amazingly, he went back and forth over the 138-foot steel cable eight times, at a height of 1,368 ft and with no protection. He was there for 45 minutes!

Petit planned his feat for six years and with his team studied all the details that would impact his success, from the architecture and the logistics to the weather. As an artist, he knew that fulfilling his dream was an art in itself.

Just like Petit, we must learn to walk at the edge of life if we are to accomplish great things. 

How do we do it?

Well, we must develop three character traits: we must be daring, immune to criticism, and visionaries.

1. You must be daring

Petit is the perfect incarnation of a man who’s passionate (and perhaps crazy) enough to fulfill his dreams at all costs. His life provides a sober reminder: no one made history being prudent.

World-changing dreamers know that fear is part of life but not of their lives. They take risks again and again because they know that without risks, there are no rewards.

Dreamers don’t always see opportunities first, but they’re the first to take on the opportunities. Fear has stopped many, but don’t let it stop you. If you don’t conquer your fears, you’ll miss great things in life.

Follow your dreams even if it scares you. Courage is the will to move in a certain direction despite the thoughts and emotions that tell you to retreat.

One area where many people live with fear is their finances. They stay in “secure” jobs that they hate because of fear; they don’t start a business because of fear; they pass on investment opportunities because of fear. They may have many excuses, but they’re all really fear.

An area where people live terrified almost constantly is the financial one. They stayed in “secure jobs” they hate, because of fear; they don’t become entrepreneurs, because of fear; they let opportunities pass, because of fear. 

The excuses sound different but in reality, is fear.

Financial experts say that to create wealth, you must be willing to take risks and it’s the same with your dreams. There’s a fine line between being careful and being fearful. A fearful person is always thinking, “What if it doesn’t work? What if I make a mistake? What would people think?"

Someone who’s careful calculates risks, while someone fearful avoids risks. A careful person wants to succeed, but a fearful person wants to avoid failure. Petit, for example, calculated the risks of wind at 400 meters in the air and installed a system so the cable would not move uncontrollably. The risk was death, but that didn’t stop him.

Courage is not the lack of fear, it’s to keep going despite fear. Uncertainty will always exist and you must deal with that fact.

Is there a dream you haven’t pursued because you’re afraid? What would you do today if you weren’t afraid?

Dare to do it.

2. You must be immune to criticism

One of my writing mentors used to say that writers need to have thick skin. When we work with editors, they’ll provide constructive criticism and point out flaws in your writing. He was right because my editors have deleted whole paragraphs and made edits mercilessly and crossed-out hundreds of words.

And that’s before publishing the book. Afterward, you receive the criticism of all those who didn’t like the book. During my career, I’ve written many articles and books on controversial topics that have brought both fans and haters.

My first novel, for example, deals with the history of geology and how modern geological theories originated out of political and religious views and not solely on science and research. Amazon reviews range from “the best book I’ve ever read” to “this is a piece of literary trash”. I admit that at first I felt hurt by the bad reviews, but I shook it off and kept writing.

Back in 2008, I published a book about vaccine safety along with an M.D. and public health expert, which brought a huge backslash from anti-vaccine groups who accused us of ugly stuff.

More recently, I tackled another controversial issue, writing against the religious establishment and calling for a more genuine Christian faith, one not dependent on rituals, traditions, and titles. That brought on a lot of criticism as well, but I’ve developed immunity to this sort of negativity.

A dreamer must walk around with a “bulletproof vest” for protection against dream-killing words. Many will tell you that it can’t be done, that you’re crazy, that you’ll lose everything and fail (again), that you’ll die trying, that what you do doesn’t work. But you must understand that it’s impossible to please everybody.

Those who criticize you won’t generally offer an alternative for you to fulfill your dreams. Critics often speak from their own fears and frustrations. They can’t see what you can see; they don’t have your perspective or your passion, so you must not listen to them.

While a mentor or leader will correct you on the path to your dreams because he has walked that same path before, a critic is someone who’s never gone through where you’re going, and won’t even try it.

Just as you don’t take financial advice from a guy who's broke, don’t take the bad rap from someone who doesn’t dare to dream as big as you do.

3. You must be a visionary

Do you know the difference between having a vision and being a visionary?

A visionary is someone with a larger-than-life vision of the future. She doesn’t just dream, but dreams big. Just like the inventors of the hot air balloon or the airplane, they’re usually ahead of their time and do something that hasn’t been done before.

It’s said that if Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses; but he invented the automobile instead, something that didn’t even exist in the minds of people. The same happened with other great inventors such as Thomas Edison and even Steve Jobs.

Maybe you’re not an inventor or a genius scientist, but you can find something different to innovate in your area of expertise.

Many years ago, while working as a medical writer at the University of Texas, I discovered a niche market in my own industry and found a way to profit from it. There weren’t many ways to break into medical writing, other than having an advanced degree like mine, so I wrote an ebook called Becoming a Medical Writer: How to Launch a Successful Career Writing about Medicine and Health in 2007.

At the time ebooks were something new, so I built a website and sold the 120-page PDF for $29.00. It was a hit and readers began asking for more information. So, I took some of the topics from the ebook and turned them into online courses, which I sold for a few hundred bucks each. In a couple of years, I was earning more than $30K in passive income from this business. When the market was reaching a peak and Amazon released Kindle ebooks for less than $9.99, my sales began to decline—so I sold the business.

It wasn’t an invention that transformed the world, but it was a profitable lesson, as I saw an opportunity in the new trend from ebooks to create an online business. You can do the same. 

My wife loves to talk to children and she usually engages with them at the mall or the street. One particular thing she does is that instead of asking them, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, she asks, “What problem are you going to solve when you grow up?”

That’s the question I want to ask you regarding your dreams. What problem of humanity are you going to solve?