Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York, gave me some wise advice a few months ago. He said, "Stop being afraid to fail. Perfect ideas don't exist."

Perfect ideas don't exist, you just have to get out there and start doing. Do do do. Stop planning the perfect plan because never in a million years will it go according to schedule. Life always gets in the way. Every single time. I'm not kidding- every single time. Every time you think you know what you want life says that's boring, let's add some spice to her morning.

Chasing your dreams means hard work. People who hide behind the shielding mask that is following their dreams are lying to you. They are the ones who sleep on a mattress in their mother's basement, drink beer until 4 am and sleep every day until 2 pm. They are not following their dreams. Following your dreams means giving up everything, absolutely everything you have and committing your entire human being to the evolution of that dream. Following your dreams is hard work.

It means endless, treacherous nights that don't end. It means that you move to your dream town with no money and fight for what you want. It means that you work 24/7 and don't stop until you get what you want. Dreams can be as simple as stopping strangers for pictures on the street or as complex as becoming a cardio-thoracic surgeon. It doesn't matter what it is, but if you really want it be prepared to bust your butt fighting for it.

Don't think it will be as easy as getting up every day and giving up your whole day to chasing your dreams. It means doing the little things every single day that add up to the dream. It means getting back up when life knocks you down time and time again as you follow your dream. Those that follow their dreams are the ones that never sat down and never waited for the perfect idea or the perfect moment.

They just did it and they busted their butts to get where they are. Get out there and just do it. It doesn't matter if you fail because trust me, everybody fails. And it sucks. And you try again and you fail again. It doesn't matter, if you truly want it get up and do it again. And again and again and again. Failing is a skill, its not a curse nor is it shameful. It teaches you something every single time. It's life's funny way of showing you that you can survive and you can try again because she's sure as heck not done with you.

Don't be a thirty-five-year-old stuck in a job that you despise simply because you were afraid to take that risk fifteen years ago. Take it now when you're young. Figure out what you want, what you're passionate about, what makes you forget to eat, what makes you bite your nails out of fury and jump up and down out of excitement.

Once you find it, you'll know that this is the dream. This is the life you want to live. Don't sacrifice it for anything unless you aren't willing to give it all you've got. Dreaming is nice, but dreamers never go anyplace far. Doers know how to accomplish their dreams because they've taken the risks, they've jumped off the bridges and they've failed; but they've also survived.