Being realistic is the fastest way to mediocrity.

Sorry Will, but I disagree.

Realism has bad press, but it’s the best mindset to get things done.

We love to repeat over and over about how you need to stick to your dreams, about how you can accomplish anything you can imagine, and more cliche advice. This is what I call the “Disney Mentality” of our society. We don’t believe in what makes sense, we believe in what sounds good. And what sounds better than dreams? The best things happen there…

Not surprisingly, we usually don’t listen about all those dreams that never became truth, about all those “passionate” people that just failed.

There’s no merit in failing while pursuing something impossible. However, we are sticking to it.

Anything in the name of romance.

Anything in the name of this supposed heroism chasing impossibility brings.

There’s nothing easier, more mediocre and common than dreaming. Everyone has dreams. For example, it’s because of dreams that gambling works so well.

The reason we love to dream is because it gives people the feeling of acting. By keeping their dreams alive, they hold on to the idea of making them real eventually, without putting the required effort to make it happen. I may write, dream and talk about love and how I haven’t “found it” yet, but you know what might actually help? Shaving and going to the gym.

Not that romantic.

True realism does not let you dream. It needs you to act. There’s no justification for doing nothing if you are realistic, because you know that wishing and hoping gets you nowhere. True realism means seeing the world as it is, taking the good with the bad, and then doing something that can be done. It means changing what can be changed. Don’t confuse this with false realism (the most common kind), which consists on rationalizing one’s laziness.

Semantics indeed

Now, some might say that I’m sending the same message with different words.

And that’s exactly the problem.

It’s the choice of words what’s harming us.

The words and mentality that we use affect our actions. Someone who “works hard” will accomplish more than someone who “follows his passion.” The thing is, passion and dreams are much more appealing (and meaningless) concepts than hard work. This is why all these self-help books disguised as business advice are doing wonders: They are a manipulative fad that make people believe they are moving forward.

It’s by making everyone feel good about their lack of focus and concrete actions that Smith’s empty sentence sounds wise.

Bottom Line: Realism is a powerful and liberating mindset. With it, you’ll aim high and your shot will land somewhere.

1) This one is obvious: The bad white military man that attacks poorer civilizations to steal their resources. Clear criticism towards corporatism and the American government, no further explanation needed.

2) This one is more subtle since it involves the spectator: We are embarrassed by what we have done to our planet. That’s why we, human viewers, end up wanting that they, human invaders, lose the battle. We want to learn the lesson.

Avatar makes a strong case on our primitive need to go back to a natural lifestyle. The spectator realizes that we are quickly moving towards technological progress and that living in nature is going to be impossible for most of us by now.

Our animal inside knows that societal satisfaction is less fulfilling than natural satisfaction.

Our animal inside wants us to cut ties and respect our home once again.

Our animal inside feels guilty.

He compiled 30 young and promising bloggers’ definition of success and their way to achieve it, and created a very inspiring and quick to read ebook that will make you work hard to reach your success, whatever it means to you.

Download the free ebook here.

Here are my expanded responses:

What is success?

Success is living in your own terms, without regrets and regardless of societal achievements.

You can’t win such an ambiguous game without coming up with your own set of rules. Those rules will be your guide if you take the time and put the work to be serious about them.

Regrets of what you did and went wrong are life lessons. Regrets of what you didn’t do are poisonous nostalgia. When in doubt, always say yes. To keep moving, to keep acting, to keep risking is the only way to create an unbreakable and successful mindset.

Society will try to impose your goals. In most people’s case, it succeeds. You should ignore it consciously. Tell to yourself and others that your life belongs to you and not to history and its customs.

How do you achieve it?

You get there after questioning and realizing what matters to you, and by taking the required steps to make it real.

People’s values are either found by themselves, or supplied by the world. Avoid the latter. Take your time to question everything and create your own collage of relevancy. And believe me, it takes time. That’s why most people only have society’s printed copy.

Thinking hard is only half of the solution. Working hard comes next. Like Dr. Kelso once said: “Nothing in this world that’s worth having comes easy.” Now go out there and start doing the work.

Things rarely go exactly the way you want them to, so sometimes you make due with whatever you can get.

Endings are never easy; I always build them up so much in my head they can’t possibly live up to my expectations, and I just end up disappointed. I’m not even sure why it matters to me so much how things end here.

I guess it’s because we all want to believe that what we do is very important, that people hang onto our every word, that they care what we think. The truth is: you should consider yourself lucky if you even occasionally get to make someone, anyone, feel a little better. After that it’s all about the people that you let into your life…

…And even though it felt warm and safe, I knew it had to end. It’s never good to live in the past too long.

As for the future, it didn’t seem so scary anymore. It could be whatever I wanted it to be…

And who’s to say this isn’t what happens? Who can tell me that my fantasies won’t come true… just this once?

In reality, you never know what’s going to happen.

Let go.

Enjoy the ride.

Akhila is one of the most caring people I know, and someone incredibly smart and informed in global issues for her age. One of my early “Twitter friends”, she is putting together a series called “Be The Change”, which I suggest you check out. Thank you Akhila for letting me be a part of it.

Subscribe to Justice For All here. Follow Akhila on Twitter here.

Do read my post “Dream Education” here.

Subscribe to Jun Loayza’s blog here. Follow Jun on Twitter here.

Jun is a very good friend, a wonderful person, and one of the most passionate hard workers I have ever met.

Thank you bro for letting me write for your blog.

Do read my guest post “Down With Entreprneurship’s Glamour” here.

If a lawyer wins a case, he succeeds. It works.

But non-profits don’t function the same way. Their definition of success is different. Many successful non-profits are still fighting poverty, diseases, and many other issues. Maybe they always will.

That’s why they don’t share the glamour other industries have.

Just because a single person or organization can’t achieve complete eradication of the problems they focus on, does that mean that they have failed? Of course not, but society won’t reward them the same way they’ll reward “successful” people.

People who want to change the world don’t care about glamour.

They don’t care if it “doesn’t make sense.”

They don’t care if they “fail.”

It’s not just about results.

It’s about peace of mind.

They can sleep well knowing that it doesn’t have to work.

It has to matter.

We are focusing on When instead of What.

People reaching their professional goals when they’re 50 is no longer interesting. To get attention nowadays you have to make something remarkable AND do it in a remarkable way. This is sad.

How does anyone still in college could have a realistic notion of what it is to be like a busy CEO? But for some, it’s their goal, they are sure of it. They have the dream, but they don’t have the life experience to reassure it or reject it.

I’m skeptical about their reasons, I think it has more to do with the interesting achievement. We want to get somewhere different, even if we are not convinced why.

We don’t want to be successful, we want to be impressive.

We don’t want to be happy, we want to be news.

True passion runs within you, it possess you.

This is a simply beautiful.

I wonder when we are going to learn that too.

Karma and destiny are nice, but randomness and luck are real.

Embrace them.

It will make the ride much more thrilling.

Sparked by Tyler Hurst