Why you struggle to chase your dreams
Most people never go after their dreams.
Some people try to go after their dreams.
But they stop.
They stop because it's not working out (yet).
They stop because they feel they're the "only crazy one" with those dreams.
They stop because they don't see immediate results.
And slowly, and slowly, they start believing others were right about them.
That maybe I can't achieve my dreams.
Maybe, I'm meant to live a life I hate.
Maybe, I'm not meant for more.
Going for your dreams will be the most difficult thing you will ever do.
People will judge you.
People will try to get you to stop.
But understand that most people are not happy with their lives.
They try to get you to stop because they didn't have the courage to chase their dreams.
Even when you understand that - chasing your dreams will be scary.
I wanted to today share from my own experience, what I've done, to make chasing dreams easier.
I'll go over 5 points - after which - I believe you’ll have a much easier time chasing your dreams.
-
Before we start, I'm just letting you know the waitlist is open for Social Media for Photographers. By enrolling through the waitlist, you'll be notified 1st when the enrollments are open. And you'll also get an exclusive bonus by enrolling through it. There are very limited seats.
Click here to join the waitlist.
-
1) "You're crazy"
Look, I hope you are.
I mean that in a good way.
Nobody who's not a little crazy goes after their dreams.
You must believe INSANELY much that you can achieve something.
It all starts with the belief you can achieve something.
You know, everyone who starts, is seen as crazy at 1st.
They differ from the rest of humanity.
Most of humanity is sleepwalking through life.
And when you do something different, they immediately notice it and start to judge you.
People don't like change.
But change is 1 of the guaranteed things along with taxes and death.
People will label you as crazy when you don't do stuff most do.
But you don't want to do what most do!
Most people are:
overweight
depressed
divorced
broke
Do you want to be one of those?
And if you currently are one of those, do you want to remain as one? For the rest of your life?
If you do what most do, you'll get the results most do.
It's fantastic if you're doing something most are not doing.
In fact, you could do the total opposite of what most are doing.
That's what I aim to do.
Of course, there are things you want to do that most do. Such as sleeping.
But think in terms of amounts.
Most people don't sleep enough.
So, we should sleep more.
Most people don't learn enough.
So, we should learn more.
Most people don't go for their dreams.
So, we should go after them.
"Do the opposite of the average person" is a great line to live your life by.
That's how you'll get far.
When you're successful, people will start to call you a genius.
No genius became a genius before being called crazy.
2) "Going after dreams is hard"
It is.
I mean, of course, it is.
Why would it be easy?
Nothing in life is easy.
If you choose to live like the average human, that is hard.
But perhaps you'll feel the consequences of that later on in your life when it's too late.
In life, you must choose your hard.
It's hard to stay fit. It's hard to be overweight.
It's hard to sleep enough. It's hard to be sleep-deprived.
It's hard to chase your dreams. It's hard to bury your dreams.
Is it easy to run my business?
Hell no.
It's incredibly difficult at times.
But I know if I stopped doing this (because of its difficulty), I'd bloody hate my life.
I know it'd be hell to live a life you don't like.
If you are living through hell now, keep going.
As Winston Churchill, the former prime minister of the UK put it:
If you're going through hell, keep going.
Why would you want to stop in hell?
You want out of there, don't you?
Whether your hell is your current job - or it's tough to run your business, keep going, my friend.
Keeping going is the only good way out of there.
You know, I'd argue, that going for your dreams isn't any harder than not going after them.
You will just feel the negative consequences of the latter later on.
But - going after your dreams is more scary at this moment.
That's what it comes down to.
You must have faith that everything will work out.
And if it doesn't, what's the worst-case scenario?
Look, you might think Hugo, you don't have kids. You live with your parents. Wtf is there for you to lose?
Well, exactly! I don't have anything to lose!
Although, that's not true.
I could lose money. I could lose followers. I could lose my reputation.
But you know, honestly, I don't give a f*ck.
I'm at peace with that.
As long as I give my best if I fail, then I fail.
Whatever.
I've always thought of the worst-case scenario.
What's my worst-case scenario?
If everything goes to sh*t, I'll just become a monk, lol!
I'll travel to India. Meditate daily surrounded by mountains, nature and clean air. And do the monk stuff.
And that's the WORST-case scenario in my mind.
And realizing, to me that doesn't sound that bad, gives me peace.
But I don't see it going to that, haha.
Most likely, what could happen, is that I embarrass myself and I lose money.
Your worst-case scenario probably isn't that you'll die.
You want to map out what is your worst-case scenario.
It'll probably not be as bad as you think.
Of course, your worst-case scenario could be worse than mine. And you need to think about how to avoid that.
Such as, if you have a family to feed, and want to start a business, don't drop out of your job randomly.
Rather, start a business, and grow it slowly. Step-by-step, until it's safer to go full-time on it.
It's all about perspective.
Life is hard.
It's always going to be.
But you choose what your hard looks like.
Fear
1 more thing I wanted to touch on fear is - that if you're afraid - that can be a good sign.
Such as Brienna Wiest wrote in 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think:
Fear means you're trying to move towards something you love, but your old beliefs, or unhealed experiences, are getting in the way. (Or, rather, are being called up to be healed.)
I'm scared every day about something.
I've just learned to deal with it. Stay calm. Although at times, it is more difficult.
Life Isn't About Waiting for The Storm to Pass, it's About Learning How to Dance in The rain. - Vivian Greene
That quote has helped me a ton lately.
There have been many stressors. Many things have gone wrong - and more could've gone wrong.
But I know I must push on even with the fear.
If I never fear, I'm not on the correct path.
Fear is inevitable.
See it as a good sign. Don't see it as bad. Just learn to dance in the rain.
3) "I'll be alone"
You will be alone.
For a bit. Or for a bit longer.
It depends on you, really.
We grow. All of us.
You had some friends in your childhood. And you just grew apart.
That's what happens. It's life.
But when we become adults, we're afraid to grow.
When you grow, you'll lose some friends.
Unless your friends grow with you.
If they don't, and they don't want to improve their life, you'll grow apart.
And at some point, you must let go. If they're dragging you down.
When you're going after your dreams, there is a moment when you'll probably be alone.
If lucky, you have supportive people around you.
But let me tell you, that is not always the case.
Here in Finland, where I am from, being an entrepreneur isn't something that is cool.
(The word "entrepreneur" translates directly to a "person who tries". The word itself implies you'll fail. I hate that.)
Most Finns don't think about owning a business.
Most Finns live the traditional way, through schools and so on.
And if that makes you happy, AMAZING!
But if it doesn't, it's a problem you need to solve.
When I started going after my dreams, barely anyone understood me.
With a fast recall:
My cousin supported me - and believed in me
Same with grandparents
Same with my family
And that's it.
I was just starting photography. And nobody I knew was doing photography, apart from my cousin.
None of my mates (and bullies) at school did photography.
Being an artist in Finland is seen as being a loser.
Especially if you're a male.
So, I knew, I was going to become different from everyone around me.
I spent a lot of time alone.
Sitting in a corner at school alone.
Spending late nights on my computer.
Spending late nights outdoors photographing instead of playing video games.
I felt more and more lonely.
Luckily, I started to connect with some people online.
I started to make new friends.
There's a period that you'll be alone.
There's a period when you don't fit into any group.
And that's hard.
But it can be avoided if you know what you're doing.
Basically, by finding others who are in the same position as you.
Finding others, who are going after their dreams, but haven't "made it" yet.
Later on, I had another tough patch. When I started my business.
Now, there was basically only my cousin believing in me. And people online.
I can recall a close person saying next to me that:
"I look forward to seeing you fail."
But that fueled me. I used it as energy to propel forward.
And damn, didn't it feel good to say that to them when I made my 1st €13,000 a month online. Lol!
Now, that's negative energy and you want to be careful.
But you can use it as fuel - if it benefits you.
Saying haha you were wrong - look what I achieved might not be beneficial in itself, lol.
But you can use thinking of you saying that to people's faces as motivation.
Either use negativity as a fuel. Or discard it.
THEN - when I shifted my focus from the digital art space where I've had the most success so far, I had another of these moments.
My friends, most of them, were part of the digital art space.
I was again about to go on my own.
Slowly, I made more friends who are like-minded about business, self-development - and photography.
Who have just great vibes.
I found a new group of people.
I hope I've hammered this home now.
You'll be alone. Most likely.
But as soon as possible, find people to connect with.
Join communities. DM others. Comment on others' posts.
Connect.
4) "I will fail"
Yes, you will.
But it's a good thing.
Every failure is an opportunity to learn.
Look, I fail every week. Well, every day actually.
But it's essential! You learn nothing from success. You only learn from your failures.
Let me tell you, just this week, I've realized I've failed embarrassingly behind the scenes.
And it was hurting me, a lot.
And because I'm pissed off I made this dumb-ass mistake, I'm sure I won't replicate it!
This thing ended up not costing me a lot. But even if it did - that's the price I paid for an upgrade!
I'm a better person after learning from the failure.
Of course, you must actually learn from the failure. Otherwise, it'll stay as a failure.
You either win. Or you get an opportunity to learn.
As Denzel Washington, an Oscar-winning actor said:
Do you have the guts to fail? If you don't fail, you're not even trying. To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
When you do new stuff, you probably will fail at something.
I have failed to take good photos.
I have failed in business.
I have failed in trying to speak English.
But you just must keep going.
If I had stopped learning English when I embarrassed myself in front of my class - that I didn't know what the colour yellow meant, I'd not be here.
If I had stopped when I was getting barely any engagement on my talking-head videos, I'd not be here.
If I had stopped trying to make money online when I failed, I wouldn't be here.
You must fail.
See failure as a good thing. Because it can be a good thing.
It's all about perspective.
Winners fail. Losers avoid it with their life.
5) "I don't know what to do"
Look, I don't always know either.
There's stuff I know what to do. But there's a lot of stuff I'm just figuring out on the way.
It's GREAT if you know you lack knowledge.
Because:
1) You know where to improve - and
2) That knowledge is something you can gain.
You can learn online. From Books. From Courses. And so on.
All the knowledge on Earth is out there. You have access to it. For free.
But gaining all that for free is a difficult job. As there's stuff you don't know you should know.
And the free info online isn't often organized.
When I don't know what to do, I do these things:
1) I check YouTube or Google it
If I am not satisfied what I found there, I...
2) I invest in my future by getting a book or a course from someone.
I've spent thousands, if not tens of thousands on education in the last few years. Honestly.
Education is the best investment. Not only according to me - but to Warren Buffett too.
He has said that everything you own can be taken away from you. But your knowledge cannot.
And I must agree with him.
Knowledge is power.
Your life now is down to your knowledge and skills.
They determine, along with action, where you are.
Think about it, why are you not making €50,000 a month?
Because you don't know how to, right?
It all comes down to knowledge.
Not knowing what to do is normal.
I know I don't know a lot of stuff.
There's insanely much to be learned. And that's exciting!
Go and learn stuff. And invest in yourself, and your own future.
Alex Hormozi, an entrepreneur and an investor said it's costing him a billion dollars a year to not know how to make a billion dollars.
That's the same thing for you.
Let's say you're making €35,000 a year.
€1,000,000 - €35,000 = €965,000.
It's costing you €965,000 a year when you don't know how to make a million.
And it's the same for me, lol.
We want to pay the "ignorance debt" down.
We want to gain the knowledge that will fill the gap of knowledge we need.
You can start to invest in yourself. That's how you reduce the amount your lack of knowledge is costing you.
When I don't know something, I invest in learning that.
Last year, I bought stuff from Dan Koe, George Sidiropoulos - and others.
I knew there was business knowledge I had to gain. And more on video editing.
This year, I wanted to gain even more knowledge on how to make money on social media.
So I invested €1400 in a cohort by Tom Noske to learn this stuff. (Even though money was tight at that moment.)
And who knows what will I invest in next.
I'm consistently looking at what knowledge I lack. And where can I gain that knowledge from?
I recently saw something I badly wanted to do.
But I have no bloody clue how to do that, lol!
I DM'd the creator about this - and asked do you teach somewhere how you do this?
I would've been ready to invest a lot!
Now I'll see does he put something out there, lol. (Hopefully, he does.)
I know many of you see investing in courses and mentoring as a scam. Don't get me wrong. Some are. But some could change your life.
That's what courses have done for me.
That's why I'm going to teach you how to grow on social media - and how to start making money with it - in Social Media for Photographers.
That's information I lacked back in the day.
And, you'll also get access to a community of like-minded creators. So you won't be alone with your "crazy dreams."
If you want to join the waitlist, click here.
Thank you for reading.
I hope this helps.
Go for your dreams. No matter how scary and difficult.
Have faith everything will work out. The same way when you decide to go on a hike - or drive with a car.
If you enjoyed this Letter, feel free to forward it to your friend.
If you were forwarded, you can subscribe here to receive these yourself (so that your poor friend won't need to forward them to you.)
Till next Saturday my friends,
Hugo
P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 other ways I can help you:
#1: Ready to crush it on social media in 2024? Want my personalized help instead of the group coaching of Social Media for Photographers? Click here to apply to my 1-1 Social Media Coaching Program.
#2: Have you seen my YouTube channel? I've put stuff out there too. I bet you'd find it valuable. Check out my latest videos and come give me a like and subscribe. :)
#3: I have a lot of free resources out there. Read the past Letters here.
