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I believe that the main reason people are not successful is because they do not believe they can be. Perhaps while they were growing up they witnessed parents who struggled to make ends meet, and began to view life as difficult. As a consequence, they came to believe that success was for “other people”.
Nothing could be further from the truth! I’m not about to say something foolish and condescending like, “everyone has the same opportunities”, because obviously they don’t, 
and it would be obtuse of me to suggest that someone like Paris Hilton isn’t going to have a far easier time of it than the average person. But what I will say is that none of that matters. If you truly desire to be more than you are now, you can be. You just need to want it and be willing to do what it takes to get there.
Too many people are resigned to their fate. If their parents had no money and worked for minimum wage all their life, they tend to follow the same path. They might dream about going to university and becoming something more, but their dreams remain dreams because they don’t know how to translate them into action. Without a belief that something is possible, there is no way to make it so.
Canadian Olympic champion Daniel Igali could have resigned himself to living his life in a third world country with corrupt governments, minimal health care and a life expectancy of only 47 years. Instead he came to Canada as a refugee and worked hard to become an Olympic gold medalist, and went on to be a candidate for the BC Liberal party, and will soon have a masters degree from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Not bad for a Nigerian refugee.
Stop thinking of the reason why you can’t, and start thinking of the reason you can. Daniel Igali did, and chances are he had a lot more “can’t” reasons than you do.
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May 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am
There’s one big factor that decides whether someone pursues their dreams or just settles for something else and that is money. I’ve met so many people who tell me, “I wish I could have pursued things like you are doing, but I had to make money so as soon as I got my degree I just went to work.” People have kids in college, bills to pay, loans that hang around like that creepy friend you just can’t get rid of. It’s true we can all achieve things if we put our minds to it, but if you had a child, could you justify them not having dinner on the table or clothes on their back because you wanted to pursue your dream? Things get a lot more complicated the more you live your life.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Thank you for sharing your comments, R, but I think you misunderstand my point somewhat.
I think you are confusing responsibilities with inabilities, and ignoring that people have freedom of choice. I’m not about to suggest a person should abandon their children to follow their dreams, but I will say that no one can justly use children as an excuse not to, because having children was, or should have been, a conscious life choice. Student loans are not a valid reason for not being successful either. See this post for my thoughts on that topic: http://inthelimelight.net/2008/01/22/debt-is-a-prison-dont-get-a-life-sentence/
Also this article was not strictly about persuing dreams, it was about being successful. If someone make a good living and have a good family, and are happy and content, then they are a success.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
True. It seems I became fixated on one concept and didn’t retain the entire message of your post. Thanks for correcting me.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Don’t consider it a correction, consider it a continuation of discussion. Either way, you’ve given me an idea for another post :)
May 20th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Not believing in yourself. I also agree with that statement. That’s a big drawback if you want to succeed.