...aka Passion Can Make You Broke.
“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You'd think the dreamers would find the dreamers, and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. See, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists? Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.” ― Modern Family.
Photo byBenyamin Bohlouli onUnsplash
The truth about those who dream and dreamers, is that dreamers often never get off the ground “cause we all have wings; but some of us don’t know why” (from Never Tear Us Apart, thank you, Michael Hutchence of INXS). There are those of us who dream with purpose and intention, and some who simply dream. Dreamers think of their imaginary futures and what could be, either getting lost in the romanticism of the idea or simply abandoning it and dreaming up something else. The fanciful nature of this is the biggest threat for dreamers. They become hyper-focused on a whimsical dream and the possibilities, acting without intention, not purposefully deconstructing it to its elemental goals nor methodically achieving them along the way. They simply fall in love with idea of the dream. Dreamers who fail, choose to leap blindly across the chasm from reality to fantasy, and often fall painfully short. Those who dream and succeed, build the bridge across, a ladder to climb down then up on, or the craft needed to fly over the chasm. To be clear, those who dream will find people who build the bridge, hold the ladder, or engineer the plane.
Think of it this way. There are entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers…all are key to progress. The entrepreneur dreams and creates a vision, the scientist studies and models the possibilities, while the engineer creates the plan to build the solution.
Our world today is certainly inspired by the dreams of Elon Musk and his famously named company, Tesla. What makes Musk one of the richest men in the world and all his businesses so great is that success has been tied closely to his human on Mars dream and he has been able to advance his ideas and innovations to global acceptance and adoption. The sign of a great dream is one envisioned by someone who can simplify things in the achievement of the hundreds, thousands or even millions of small steps needed.
With a respectful nod, Musk’s company, Tesla, was named after Nikola Tesla. A visionary who studied engineering and physics in the late 19th century, yet never received a degree in either, Tesla earned money selling his alternative current induction motor and other patents and he proved the existence of radio waves and pursued wireless communication and remote control. Eventually he focused his energy and efforts on his dream to have wireless lighting and to make worldwide wireless electricity a reality. Early in the 20th century, Nikola Tesla could not attract investors, had exhausted his financial resources chasing his dreams and abandoned his work. By his death, he was a debtor and his ideas languished. Today, his work is fundamental to both science and science fiction.
There is a difference between dreamers and doers. While both dream, success lies squarely in the doing. Passion can and will make you broke. Your dreams will go unrealized if you do not understand how to work the vision back to its elements, set smart goals, execute a plan, and engage others to carry the ideas forward.
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