Keep Going, Because Most Of The Others Will Quit

Many people dream of becoming writers, musicians, actors, or painters. But on the rough road towards their goal, most of them drop out at some point and decide to lead a so-called normal life.

They take a job in a big company, drive to work every day and settle down in their existence as best they can.

Some of them continue to do what they love to do for a while after the job. They play in a small band that performs on weekends, write a novel, or take acting lessons after work. They still dream of being discovered one day. But they don’t do anything to ensure that this really happens.

Most of them now only invest as much time in their dreams as in any hobby. They may do this for many years, but most likely, they will give up entirely at some point. The dream was not meant to be realized by them.

When I found this Facebook group, I thought I had found a lot of like-minded people. I felt that all these folks wanted to earn enough money from writing at some point, not to have to do an average job anymore.

It turns out I was wrong. They all wanted to earn money, but that was mostly all they really wanted. They were not interested in improving their skills every day, studying the market, learning about their genre, marketing, and, most of all, not in writing every day.

Money, most of them found out, can be quickly earned elsewhere. In a regular job, you can’t unfold, and you have to do what someone else asks you to do, but you seem to have a secure income.

My point is that once a path becomes complicated, most people will leave it as soon as possible. As a result, an initially crowded way will become increasingly lonely over time. After a few years, the only people who go down this path with you are a few others who are there for just as long.

It is easy to get discouraged when you are new to the game. The top is far away, and where you step onto the field yourself, it is incredibly crowded with people who are on the same level as you are.

The entrance to a dream palace is always crowded. People stand in a long queue in front of this crowded entrance and wait for it to move forward. This dream palace exists for artists of all kinds. Whoever enters is an insider. All those who stand outside do not exist in the community.

You stand in the back of the queue and wait. You just have to stand still and wait until it goes a step ahead again. After a while, the first ones in front of you in the queue give up. They leave the waiting line cursing and go home. They claim that they actually didn’t really want to go into the palace. They say it can’t be worth it. But you know better and stay in line.

More and more people are giving up. The line gets shorter, and the entrance gets closer. Again and again, people come out of the palace and go home. They look exhausted and disillusioned. They tell the waiting people that it is terrible in there. You get everything you dreamed of, but it is so endlessly exhausting what you have to do for it.

These reports cause other waiting people to give up.

And you arm yourself. You listen to these reports, but you do not give up because of them. Instead, you vow not to let it scare you off. You promise you that you will do whatever it takes to stay in the palace if you are really let in.

You know there are only two possibilities. Either you follow your dream and make it come true or give up and join the ranks of those who drive into one of the millions of offices every morning to work for someone else.

Giving up is easy. But it’s also stupid. Most things that are easy are stupid.

If you look at who the really successful writers, actors, painters, musicians, and athletes are, you will see that they have all been working very hard for a very long time. If you want to be one of them, you have to be ready for it.

So if you have a dream that seems hopeless even today, remember this: Keep going, because most of the others will quit.