The Dreamers And The Realists

Innovators. Entrepreneurs. Actors. Athletes. These are the people who have done it all, reached the top, become one of the greatest. Everyone is born a dreamer; they dream of becoming a rich man, of getting over Mount Everest, of becoming a renowned artist. Everyone has ideas, stories and thoughts that they hope to make a reality. Everyone can look at themselves in their minds, begging for their dream to occur one day. And gradually, as every month becomes a year and every year becomes a decade, the dream, the opportunity fades away, and hope becomes doubt becomes regret. The dreamers are dead.

The “Realists”. Cynical and disbelieving. They do applaud the greatness of others, definitely, yet tell themselves and others that one will never become one of the greats. Affected by other realists, they affect the other dreamers and the disease spreads rapidly; the slow deterioration of hope becoming a boring everyday 9-hour day job in an office as more dreamers become realists, give up the dream and throw in the towel. All realists are ex-dreamers; who have “realized” the difficulty of the real world and have made themselves believe it’s all impossible. The realists are dead.

The reasons of failure from realists aka ex-dreamers are not extraordinary, though many have thought it has to do with lack of motivation. Motivation, people think, is the gateway to achievement and glory and true joy. This is far from the truth, and it’s just blatantly obvious. Look at the people at the gym on New Year's Day – how many remain motivated after the first week? The first genuine quality is the motive – the goal, the aim. Money and fame are what people think are the shining lights to becoming a master at life. Never ever ever think about that. Do what you love, your passion, do what people deem insane or mad, do what gives you tiny amounts of money and deal with the expenses. Take that gap year, work in medicine or agriculture or hitchhike your way around the world. It’s worth it, always.

The real great flaw of the dreamers’ is that they think the goal is obviously achievable, and as they encounter the first failure, the first mistake, they surrender in defeat. If you want the dream, you have to work f***ing hard. There’s no mummy or daddy to aid you, you have to work 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, for years. You’re alone in your goal, and whether you achieve or not is your decision. The greats in the world – the movie-stars, the artists, the authors, the businessmen; they work every day to be the best. There are around seven billion people around the world ­– to become the greatest, there’s no option for rest and relaxation. A lot of people will be better than you, keener than you, smarter than you, richer than you. It’s your responsibility to do more every single day. Motivation is good but you must have discipline and self-restraint, there can be no excuses.

Wellington is renowned for one thing – I hear the same thing every morning. “Mate I’m so tired”, “The prep was so difficult”, “I can’t be bothered for this”. Mate, everyone is feeling the exact same way. You’re not unique or different, no one really cares. Stop moaning and deal with it. I applaud the people who are “keen”, because they really don’t give a shit about what people think. In less than five years, the majority of people here at Wellington you will never meet again. Why does it matter what they think about your dream? What have they done since they arrived at Wellington? Sorry? They’ve done more than you? Then get to work.

Regret is a killer. But if you’re not ready to do the work every second of every day of every week, then you might as well give up now. I don’t care, Wellington doesn’t care, the government doesn't care, your parents probably wouldn’t care. There are millions of “realists” in the world you can join to do a job you detest every single day.

You decide. Are you dead to the world?