1. Opinions of Others
I put this on top of the list because to me, this is what most of us fall into that ends up suffocating our dreams. The sad part is that usually the opinions of our families and loved ones are the deadliest ones. Is it because they hate us and don’t want to see us happy? Absolutely not, quite the opposite. The reason our family tries to put us on another path is because they want us to be safe and believe it isn’t worth the risk. Do not let people tell you what you can’t do, especially if they haven’t done it themselves. Be careful who is speaking into you. “The opinions of others doesn’t have to become your reality.” -Les Brown
2. Fear
False Evidence Appearing Real. The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises are the only two fears we are born with, the rest are conditioned. A lot of time the opinions of others place certain fears into our minds. We all have fear and fear is important to a certain degree. It drives us and keeps us from petting a wild animal; however, when fear enables us to live out our daily lives and stops us from going after what we love, it then becomes a dream killer. Examine your fear and write out pros and cons until you actually rationalized out this false belief.
3. Someday Doesn’t Exist
When will I be happy? When will I quit the job I hate waking up to every single day? When will I go see my grandmother who is fighting cancer? When will I go after all my dreams? Every day people ask themselves one of these questions if not all and the answer is usually the same. Someday. Let me make this clear, there will never be a perfect time for anything. Do not look for the moment, create the moment. Someday will eventually lead to your death bed where all your dreams, ideas and talents will die with you.
4. Toxic people
At least once in our lives we have surrounded ourselves with toxic people. The people that have no dream, no desires and no ambitions to be successful. Toxic people can blend in quite well, you might not even recognize them until it is to late. Surround yourself with people who are better, smarter and challenge you every day. If you are the smartest person in your group of friends, you must drop them in order to grow. The people you surround yourself with will spread their habits into your life so better make sure they are good, healthy habits.
5. Push the Pedal and do not Settle
Did you ever realize that there is a flow with life? The “Standard” some may call it. For people in this generation it is all about going to college, spending a lot of money, getting out of college and settling with a job that they say, “Well at least I am making good money.” In life with an expiration date, is money as important as a dream? Look I get it, it is safe and comfortable but not satisfying. In order to reach your full potential you must swim upstream and get a little resistance. Being safe can be the biggest dream killer of them all.
I hope you have enjoyed my count down of what I believe is the top five dream killer. Now of course there are a lot more and I would love to see what you have to add. If you catch yourself in one of these five, please reach out to me so we can get you on the right yet risky track.