One of the best lessons my father ever taught me growing up was one of the sayings he always told us: "Dreams are for fools and you need to set goals." This has stuck and will stick with me for the rest of my life, and I cannot thank him enough for helping me build who I am today. When I want to do something and I set my mind doing it, it's not a dream, it's a goal. It is a goal that I will attain. Dreams come and go. Dreams are fantasies. Dreams are a place in our mind that we go to when we are upset or when we are happy. In dreams, we are able to alter everything -- we are all able to alter the people, the environment and even ourselves. When you set a goal and achieve it, you get to become the dream on your own. That fantasy goes away because you made it a reality.

A dream is something that happens when we sleep or happens when we hear an inspirational story. It is something we want. It's saying I dream of having that car or I dream of owning my own restaurant one day however it does not sound like you want that, it does not sound like you want that car or you want that restaurant. It's just something that's in your mind, it's sitting there. You create this image that you chose to call a dream and talk all about it but yet you do did not say why are you dreaming of this and how can I get this. This is why you should not dream, this is why you need to have the goal for attainment.

This is how one should think: I set a goal to own that restaurant or I set a goal to have enough money to buy that car I want. Stop sitting here saying I dream of owning that car that I saw that guy driving the other day. Set a goal starting with making your own money to buy that car. Dreams are for the foolish. Dreams are for the people who do not have enough self-confidence and courage to reach the top. People who dream fantasize about being on the top already without going through the motions of getting to the top. However, those who have a goal know what they are going up against. Those are the strong people in life, those who work the hardest are the ones you want on your side all because they had a goal and they accomplished it. They were not dreamers.

So, people stop saying you have a dream, only Martin Luther King Jr. was good at that and we are not him. Start setting goals for yourself, set a goal to graduate college with your degree, set a goal to graduate from graduate school with your MBA, set a goal to be a partner at your own firm for all I care. Set a goal for yourself. I am tired of hearing people say, "oh I dream of having this job or I dream of going to this school." It's like, no, get your act together, get your grades together, and have a goal of getting into that school. You can do it. There is nothing that you cannot do in this world. Don't listen to people, because everyone else is an idiot in this world we live in. We live in a world where close-minded people are oblivious to the things around them, thinking it's OK to talk. Don't listen to those people and don't let those idiots alter the way you are. Yes, accomplishing a goal takes time and patience, and it is hard, but it makes you stronger and a better person. Trust me, the end reward is unexplainable.