Whether we realize it or not, we all have dreams. Dreams are what we want our future selves to be like and what we want our future selves to achieve. So we get started. We follow all the social media pages we can about our goal (e.g. health, relationships, school, etc), we go hard-core into everything we know that we need to do, and we monitor our progress.

And that's where the trouble begins.

We look at pictures, watch videos, and read about the people we look up to and wonder why we aren't able to perform at the same level. We're doing everything we possibly can and feel like we're hardly getting anywhere.

The problem is that all we're seeing is the result, not the work that it took to get to that end result. We're fixated on our goal to the extent that we want it to happen right away, kind of like what we're accustomed to in day-to-day life. Our drinks can be mobile ordered and ready in minutes, a food craving can be satisfied with a quick delivery, and we can get a ride anywhere we want with an app on our phones.

All of this is absolutely amazing, but we can get lost and dejected if we translate those instantaneous results to our big dreams. The things that we really want like happiness, self-confidence, better relationships, improved skills, and health take time. They don't come to life overnight, and that's something we often ignore in our measure of progress.

So don't feel terrible and put yourself down if what you want isn't happening quickly because:

1. It's not supposed to happen quickly!

2. The end result will be that much sweeter and enjoyable to maintain.

3. It simply means that you've chosen a truly worthwhile goal because all the good, lasting things in life take time.

That's right, it's supposed to not be fast, so use that as a measure of success rather than failure. And naturally, if you ever feel like you're not capable enough to go through with your plan, just remember that if you've dreamed it, it means you can totally, 100%, follow through with it. You've thought of it for a reason and want to achieve it for a reason, so trust that and keep at it.