Have you ever been strolling through a shopping mall or car lot when – POW! – THE perfect product captures your attention? Perhaps it’s the sporty convertible with a V-8 engine and unbelievable acceleration. Maybe it’s the adorable dress that’s exactly your style, has a flattering fit, and accentuates all of your finest features.

Whatever the case, there’s an initial moment when you’re enamored with THE product. For a split second reality is suspended as you imagine the joys of owning it. Unfortunately, two words generally bring this pleasant daydream crashing to a halt: price tag.

The Dream Is Free, but the Journey Isn’t

When you first think about a dream, you only see possibilities and potential. As my friend Collin Sewell observed, all dreams begin obstacle-free. However, at some point we have to confront the Cost Question: Am I willing to pay the price of my dream?

If you want to achieve a dream, you have to be willing to do more than just imagine the outcome. You have to be willing to pay a price to start the journey. Dreams don’t fall into our laps by accident or good fortunate. They must be attained at the cost of personal sacrifice.

The Price Must Be Paid Sooner Than You Think

Dreams can’t be bought on impulse. Buy now, pay later financing isn’t an option. If you want to own a dream, then be prepared to make a hefty down payment.

I think most people realize that there will be some cost for achieving their dream. They have a vague notion that someday they will have to pay a price. But they don’t realize how quickly the costs come. Stepping toward a dream is like launching a rocket; massive amounts of energy must be expended at the beginning. Otherwise, gravity takes hold and the journey never gets off the ground.

The Price Will Be Higher Than You Expect

All dreams have price tags attached, and the cost is always higher than we expect to pay. Not once in my conversations with successful people have I heard someone say, “Getting to the top was much easier than I anticipated.” The reverse is true. Those at the pinnacle of their professions point to the hardships and sacrifices they had to endure to reach the top.

Having done a good deal of travel, I’ve learned the taxi principle: ALWAYS find out the cost before you get in the cab. Unfortunately, dreams are far too complex for us to accurately access the costs upfront. A noble dream is worth the expense, but the full costs won’t be apparent until we’re already on the journey.

The Price Must Be Paid More Than Once

As a young leader, I mistakenly thought acquiring a dream was like buying a ticket to Six Flags: pay once and enjoy the rides. Experience has taught me otherwise. Following a dream forces you to make continual sacrifices.

Just as a rocket must shed weight to escape gravity, so to a leader has to let go of some goals to accomplish others. You have to give up to go up.

Let’s face it: dreams don’t work unless you do. Easing off the accelerator and coasting won’t get you to your desired destination. For dreams to be apprehended, leaders must have an appetite for hard labor.

It Is Possible To Pay Too Much for Your Dream

Although sacrifices go hand in hand with success, it is possible to overpay for a dream. Don’t mortgage relationships or discard your moral compass in pursuit of career goals. I’ve seen it happen all too often. I’ve watched people sacrifice marriages, neglect their kids, ignore their health, and abandon their conscience – all in the name of a “dream.”

As Jesus of Nazareth once said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul?” Some prices aren’t worth paying. Do not allow your dream to dictate your values. Rather, make sure your values inform and govern your dream

 I grew up being told not to dream.  “You are such a dreamer, why don’t you grow up!”  I would be told time and time again as a child.  Then when I got older and had a family, I constantly had people close to me reminding me that I shouldn’t dream.  I had a family to support.    I am being selfish and childish.   I am not smart enough, educated enough or good enough to do the things I want to achieve.  I should just settle for my lot in life.  People will discourage you because they know they can’t do it.  Let me tell you right now, if you are hearing things like that, don’t listen!  Those words are right out of the pit of hell.  Let no man dictate what you can and cannot do.  You were created for greatness.    I am very fortunate that the most important person in my life, my beautiful wife Cathy, has always encouraged me and told me to focus on my dreams and to be all I could be.  I am truly blessed with a wonderful encourager for a wife.  

The reason I have Walt Disney’s quote hanging on my office wall next to the check to R&J Health Studio and a jar of coal sitting on my desk, is for a daily reminder to myself that if I DO think, believe, dream and dare, I can achieve what seems to be the impossible.  When I was a young man, I talked about owning a gym just like R&J Health Studio and I was constantly shot down by everyone but my wife.  You may be getting the same thing with your dreams.  When others can’t do it they want you to fail as well.  They may start by discouraging you and then by offering you what seems to be “good advice” to short circuit your success.  It is your job to push through to success.

Yes, I did buy R&J Health Studio and the years I owned it were some of the best years of my life.  The coal on my desk was given to me by my dad.  I had just gotten into Manhattan real estate at William B. May on Madison Avenue, and that very Christmas Dad gave me and my brothers a jar of coal to remind us of our family roots.  My dad’s ancestors were coal miners in Pennsylvania.   But for me it held an additional meaning.  One of my duties while working in a New York City Public School was to shovel coal into boilers to heat the building.  A LOT of coal.  Not only did I shovel the coal into the boiler, but I had to bring the coal from the coal pit to the boiler.  Then after the coal was burned, I had to clean out all the ash, put it into the cans and bring the ash cans up out to the street for pick up.  It was physically exhausting, filthy work.  I kept that jar of coal on my desk as a reminder that regardless of how many challenges I may have in the business world, it could be worse.  I could be back in the boiler room, breathing in coal dust and shoveling coal into a boiler.  There is nothing wrong with shoveling coal, it is good, honest work, but the thought leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth (pun not intended).  You see, I had people telling me that I should be doing just that – ONLY that – all the while trying to discourage me from trying to “conquer the world.”  For me, I would rather not have to do it again…ever.

Most people are not being malicious when they try to discourage you from striving for outstanding success.  They are just voicing their own fears.  To them, failure is the worst thing that can happen.  To ME, failure is simply a part of success and not trying is failure.  Let them keep their fear and negativity, I don’t want any part of it and neither should you.  Remember, success and failure aren’t opposites, they are neighbors separated by a thin line… by a single decision… the decision not to quit.

I once heard that Walt Disney wouldn’t even take on a project unless every person on his board of directors told him not to do it!  You heard right…not to do it!  He believed that if everyone agreed with him, that he wasn’t thinking big enough.  He also said, “We did it (referring to Disneyland), in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to, thought it would be a financial disaster – closed and forgotten within the first year.”  Good thing for us old Walt didn’t listen to those people.   What should you be doing that you are holding back on, out of fear?  What great dream have you had that others told you was impossible or that you were nuts to even consider?  If Walt Disney is any example, the very things you “aren’t” doing may be your road to greatness.  Go for it!  Pursue your dreams with passion and enthusiasm and I will see you on top of your ladder of success! 

In December 1984, Kim, Larry and I were on a skiing holiday. At night we would discuss our plans for the future. Kim and I were on our last few dollars and Larry was in the process of building another business. On New Years Day, we tried to set some goals. Larry wanted to do more than just set goals for the coming year, he wanted us to set goals that changed our lives.

“Why don’t we write a plan on how we can all become financially free?” he urged.

I had talked about it and dreamt about it. But the idea of being financially free was always in the future, not today.

“Let’s write it down,” Larry said. “Once we write it down, we have to do it, and we’ll support each other on the journey.”

Kim and I looked at each other doubtfully. “It’s a good idea but I think I would rather just focus on surviving for the next year.”

“Come on,” said Larry. “Let’s go for freedom. I don’t want to spend my life working just to pay bills. I want to live. I want to be rich. I want to travel the world while I’m young enough to enjoy it.”

I recalled the words of my rich dad: “The biggest challenge you have is your own self-doubt and your laziness. It is your self-doubt and your laziness that define and limit  who you are. It is your self-doubt and laziness that deny you the life you want.”  

It was time to choose. “OK, let’s set the goal to be financially free.” That was New Year’s Day 1985. In 1994 Kim and I were free. Larry went on to build his company, which became one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies of the year in 1996. Larry retired in 1998 at the age of 46 after selling his company.

How did we do it?

It’s not about how we did it. It’s about why we did it. From 1985 to 1994, Kim, Larry, and I focused on rich dad’s three paths to great wealth:

Increasing business skills
Increasing money management skills
Increasing investment skills

The why is because I wanted to challenge my own self-doubts, my laziness and my past. It was the why that gave us the power to do the how.

My arguments against Larry’s idea were things like: “But we don’t have any money”; “I can’t do that”; “I’ll think about it next year, or once Kim and I get settled”.

Rich dad had told me: “Whenever someone says something like ‘I can’t afford it’, or ‘I can’t do it’ to something they want, they have a big problem. Why in the world would someone say ‘I can’t afford it’ or ‘I can’t do it’ to something they want? Why would someone deny themselves the things they want? It makes no logical sense.”

My own whys
I was fed up with being broke and always struggling for money.
I was tired of being average.
My parents had struggled under a mountain of bills.
Most painful of all, my beautiful wife Kim was in this financial mess because she loved me.

Things got worse for us before they got better. Kim and I lived in a car for about three weeks after our money ran out. So things did not get better just because we made the decision to retire rich, but it was the reasons why that kept us going.

Rich dad used to say: “If you want something, be passionate. Passion gives energy to your life.” Passion is a combination of love and hate. “If you want something you do not have, find out why you love what you want and why you hate not having what you want. When you combine those two thoughts, you will find the energy to go get anything you want.”

For example, I would create the following list:

LOVE
Being rich
Being free
Buying anything I want
Expensive things
Having other people do what I don’t want to do

HATE
Being poor
Being required to work
Not having what I want
Cheap things
Doing things I don’t want to do

So sit quietly to find and define your loves and hates. Then write down your whys. Write down your dreams, goals and plans on becoming financially free, retiring early and retiring as young as possible. Once it is in writing, you may want to show it to a friend who will support you in achieving your dreams. Take a look at this paper with your dreams, goals and plans on a regular basis. Talk about it often, ask for support, be willing to continually learn, and before you know it, things will begin to happen.

I have heard many people say: “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” That statement has some truth to it. But what money does do is buy me the time to do what I love and pay other people to do what I hate doing.

Despite all of the factors that affect our lives – like the kind of parents we have, the schools we attended, the part of the country we grew up in – none has as much potential power for affecting our futures as our ability to dream.

Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you want to lead. Dreams can drive you. Dreams can make you skip over obstacles. When you allow your dreams to pull you, they unleash a creative force that can overpower any obstacle in your path. To unleash this power, though, your dreams must be well defined. A fuzzy future has little pulling power. Well-defined dreams are not fuzzy. Wishes are fuzzy. To really achieve your dreams, to really have your future plans pull you forward, your dreams must be vivid.

If you’ve ever hiked a fourteen thousand-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains, one thought has surely come to mind “How did the settlers of this country do it?” How did they get from the East Coast to the West Coast? Carrying one day’s supply of food and water is hard enough. Can you imagine hauling all of your worldly goods with you… mile after mile, day after day, month after month? These people had big dreams. They had ambition. They didn’t focus on the hardship of getting up the mountain.

In their minds, they were already on the other side – their bodies just hadn’t gotten them there yet! Despite all of their pains and struggles, all of the births and deaths along the way, those who made it to the other side had a single vision: to reach the land of continuous sunshine and extraordinary wealth. To start over where anything and everything was possible. Their dreams were stronger than the obstacles in their way.

You’ve got to be a dreamer. You’ve got to envision the future. You’ve got to see California while you’re climbing fourteen thousand-foot peaks. You’ve got to see the finish line while you’re running the race. You’ve got to hear the cheers when you’re in the middle of a monster project. And you’ve got to be willing to put yourself through the paces of doing the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable and until you realize your dreams.

PLANNING

I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they may have planned for you? Not much.

The reason why most people face the future with apprehension instead of anticipation is because they don’t have it well designed.

The guy says, “When you work where I work, by the time you get home, it’s late. You’ve got to have a bite to eat, watch a little TV, relax and get to bed. You can’t sit up half the night planning, planning, planning.” And he’s the same guy who is behind on his car payment!