Dreamer –> Doer

My 20s can be defined by my evolution from a ‘dreamer’ to a ‘doer’. The dichotomy is obvious – in my early-20s, I was miserable, and now at 29, I am thriving.

For any of you who would define yourself as a ‘dreamer’ –

Reflecting back, the reason why it was so difficult to make the leap from ‘dreamer’ to ‘doer’ was not due to a lack of discipline, or a lack of resources, or a lack of skills, but the absolutely necessity to protect my dream (“dream” defined as that ‘obsessed’ idea, vision, or goal that ‘carved the path forward’). 

Because during a time when I had no direction and no momentum, my dream was the source of my potential for what I could become. It was the thing that gave me equity, my source of optimism and hope, the reason why I woke up in the morning. So I couldn’t put it to the test, because if it shattered, I would be left with nothing. To protect my dream, I couldn’t act on it.

Eventually, out of necessity, I acted on my dream, and failed. But then, surprisingly, I found another. Put my all into it, failed, did that again, then eventually found something that stuck. Sometimes failure was characterized by an utter lack of momentum and viability, or it was no longer the thing that energized me.

What I now realize is that dreams beget dreams. There are two implications: there is an unquantifiable number of dreams one has the opportunity to discover and pursue, and you can only discover subsequent dreams by letting go of dreams. 

Holding on to the dream is a mistake. It’s best to put it to the test right away, see if there’s alignment and validity, and if not, find the next. I can see now that people in general don’t have enough faith in their ability to pivot, to turn a corner and find the next thing worth pursuing. The essential ingredient to pivoting isn’t skills or knowledge. It’s doing. The more I did, the easier it became to do, and that self-fulfilling treadmill built momentum and led me to where I am today.

As I reflect today, I would definitively characterize myself as a ‘doer’. Yet, I remember just earlier this decade of my life, I was undoubtedly a ‘dreamer’.

To the ‘dreamers’ – the jump is there for you to take, and it’s worth it.