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Dreams

Never Give Up
on Your Dreams

By Mike Henry

Are you broke? Stuck in a job you can’t stand? Unhappy with the direction your life is going? If you are reading this, you probably have at least one heavy duty obstacle in your path. If you are like most of us, you have more than one. I won’t tell you it will be easy – in fact it may be downright difficult – but you can succeed.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Not even close. Like you, I am still learning and growing with each new challenge. However, there are three things I have learned along the way that just might help:

Decide on the right course of action and take it, but beware of the quick
fix. If a solution seems too easy, it probably is. Ask yourself: “Is this a step in the
right direction?”
“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” ~ Coach Jim Valvano
“I get by with a little help from my friends.” ~ The Beatles

Of course, advice is always easier to give than to receive. It took me a long, long time to get it into my head that only through action and persistence could I realize my dreams. Well, that and a little help from a particularly good friend. Let me share a little bit about myself and how these three elements have had a profound impact on my own life.

Through college and into my early 20s I lived what I thought was the good life, working at a golf course in the summer and a ski resort in the winter. When I wasn’t in class or working, you could find me on the course or on the slopes. I wasn’t making a whole lot of money, but I was enjoying life and doing what I wanted to do. I figured I would eventually have to break out into the “real world” and get a “real job,” but as any good procrastinator would, I put it off.

Instead of seeking or creating opportunities for myself, I chose the path of least resistance: I took the first job that came my way. A friend of mine from college knew of a job opening where he worked and thought it would be a good idea for me to move to Baltimore. Without really thinking about it, I packed my things, said good-bye to my parents, and moved down immediately. A few months later, instead of working and playing at what I loved (although for little money), I found myself in a strange city with few friends around me, a rent I had trouble
meeting from month to month, and a mind-numbing job that I couldn’t wait to
leave every day.

Finally, I decided that enough was enough. I sat down and thought about what it was that I wanted to do. I didn’t want to go back to my old jobs – I wanted a career. After all, I had a college degree. How hard could it be to find one? Of course, the expression that kept echoing in my head was, “What are you going to do with an ENGLISH degree?!?” The answer to that was I wanted to be an editor. I had always thought about getting into publishing, and my favorite part of writing papers in college had actually been the editing phase.

I had a goal, but I really didn’t have a course of action. I sent out a few resumes here and there to places I knew of. Not surprisingly, nothing really panned out. When another friend offered me a job selling advertising for a craft magazine, I took it. I told myself, “This is close enough to publishing. Let’s do it.” I took the quick fix.

I learned one important thing at that job: I am not a salesman. I did not have the heart to hard sell the mom-and-pop outfits that made up the bulk of our sales base, especially when they were trying to decide between buying advertising and putting food on the table. Too often I gave in. Needless to say, I still wasn’t happy, and after a year and a half of barely making my sales quota, I was let go.

After that experience, I began to lose heart. As the bills started to pile up, I took the first available job I could find – as a greeter for a local retail establishment. At first I was happy there. I had a job, worked hard, and paid my rent. What more was there? However, I still wasn’t realizing my ambition. When people asked me, “What do you do?” I became embarrassed. My career path was moving in the wrong direction.

Fortunately, my girlfriend at the time knew what needed to be done: I had to take action in my life. She got me out of my funk and convinced me to have another go at finding a job in publishing. While I worked on my resume and cover letters, she sent me tons of information on publisher websites, job search engines... anything and everything that was even remotely related to writing or editing. Instead of sending out an occasional application to places that I knew, I began sending out 10-20 applications per week. Still no job.

It was tempting to lapse back into taking the easy route – the quick fix – but I had momentum on my side, and so I grew even more determined. I did not give up! Instead, I expanded my search beyond Baltimore, I researched where to start so that I could earn the experience that employers wanted in my chosen field, and I kept sending out applications. As more and more rejections came in, even my girlfriend started to doubt. Finally, she sat me down and said, “Honey, I just don’t think this is going to work for you. I think we have to find you a new
direction.” I was crushed. Was she right? Now that I finally took action in my life, was it only going to end in failure?

Three days later I received a phone call. The next day I got another. Then another. Finally!!! I started going to interviews, and within two weeks I had two competing job offers!

Source: Book Overcoming Obstacles (Mentors Magazine)

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