The Cost of Chasing Your Dreams

Many entrepreneurs love talking about dreams, goals, and success, but far fewer are willing to pay the price that comes with them.

The reality is that building a business often requires lonely days, boring days, setbacks, failures, discipline, and showing up even when you don't feel motivated. Dreams are not built on excitement alone. They are built through daily habits, consistent action, protecting your time, energy, focus, and staying committed when nobody is watching.

This episode is a reminder that your dreams deserve more than wishful thinking. They deserve commitment. If you have a vision for your future, then your habits, routines, choices, and lifestyle must be aligned with that vision.

For entrepreneurs who feel discouraged, distracted, or stuck, this conversation will help you reconnect with what you're working toward and remind you that every meaningful dream comes with a price worth paying.

 Key Takeaways 

• Dreams require a cost, and that cost often comes in the form of loneliness, boredom, sacrifice, discipline, and hard work.
• Successful entrepreneurs don't rely on motivation. They continue showing up even on the days they don't feel like it.
• Talking about dreams is easy. Aligning your habits, routines, and daily choices with those dreams is what creates results.
• Protecting your time, energy, focus, mindset, and health is part of paying the price for success.
• Reflection and self-awareness help you identify whether your daily actions are moving you closer to your goals or further away.
• A strong identity helps you stay committed when distractions, procrastination, and excuses show up.
• Dreams should live inside your heart and guide your daily decisions, not remain ideas that only appear when you feel inspired.
• The entrepreneurs who succeed are often the ones willing to keep going through difficult, lonely, and uncertain seasons.
• Real progress happens when you continue doing the work, even when nobody is watching and no immediate results are visible.
• Your dreams are waiting on you. The question is whether you're willing to pay the price required to make them a reality.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone who feels like they're constantly striving but never fully arriving. Mohammed’s message will help you reconnect with your power, speak to yourself with more compassion, and rewire the way you think about your worth, so you can start showing up as your whole, confident, and congruent self.

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Transcript

(0:08) Hey everyone, welcome to the Breakthrough Entrepreneur Show, where we empower entrepreneurs (0:13) to build good habits, break old habits, rebuild powerful routines, overcome burnout, improve (0:21) performance, and create a more healthy and more focused daily entrepreneurial life, while (0:28) making consistent progress in building their business. I'm your host, Mohammad Faraj, and (0:34) today our topic is the cost of chasing your dreams. I think something important that we (0:43) need to understand in entrepreneurship is that, are you willing to pay the price? Are (0:51) you willing to handle the cost of your success, the cost of your dreams, which is being lonely, (1:00) feeling isolated, the hardship, the boring days, the days where you don't feel motivated (1:07) or you don't like to work.Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to pay the price? (1:15) Because so many people say that entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and I think when I start (1:23) my entrepreneurship journey, I need to really reflect and ask myself, am I willing to do (1:31) whatever it takes, even when I fail, even when I make mistakes, even when I lose clients, (1:39) even when I'm not gaining any clients, even when I'm spending years and still my business (1:45) is not working, my entrepreneurship is not working, and I'm failing. You see, these are (1:51) golden questions that we need to ask ourselves, that we need to reflect on. Because so many (1:58) people, unfortunately, they make this mistake or they fall into this trap where they're watching (2:05) other successful entrepreneurs, they're watching other dreamers on social media, on YouTube, (2:12) on Instagram, and they're watching their wealth, they're watching their wonderful dream life, (2:21) and people, they make mistake when they think that those people, they just easily landed (2:26) on that wealth, or on that luxury car, or that luxury house.People think that people (2:35) were just talented and they got all that suddenly, or they were lucky. I mean, don't get me wrong, (2:43) sometimes talent and luck also plays a role. But the main reason why those people, they (2:52) got that dream car, or they got that dream house, or they're living by a beach, or they're (2:58) living their dream life.My friends, they paid the price. There was a cost for that dream. (3:07) They didn't just land their dream life by talent, by luck, or suddenly, or they inherited. (3:17) No, most of those people, they struggled a lot. They went through so many boring days. (3:24) They struggled a lot with feeling lonely.Some of them, they got depressed. They were (3:30) struggling with depression. Some of those wealthy people that you see, they failed so (3:36) many times.They went broke. They went bankrupt. So there was a cost.If you notice that in (3:45) their process, there was a cost. There was a price that they needed to pay in order to (3:51) make their dreams come true. Those dreams, they require a cost.They require a price. (3:58) And unfortunately, that's why so many people would give up. That's why so many people (4:03) don't want to continue.So many people, they don't want to stay consistent. So many people, (4:09) they fall back to that average life, to that ordinary life, to their old habits. Because (4:15) they worked for a while, for some years, and they saw that they are not getting anywhere. (4:20) They are not seeing results. They are not moving forward. So they easily give up.So (4:28) dreams really requires a big love, a big drive, a big enthusiasm, a big motivation. It requires (4:39) most importantly, a big cost, a big price to pay in order to make your dreams come true. (4:47) And it's not easy because we all understand that the success, the road toward a success (4:58) is not easy.It is hard. It's struggling. It's handling those lonely, boring days.The (5:07) road to success is not for everyone. Not everyone are willing to follow that road. (5:13) That's why they take another road.They live a normal, average life, working from nine to (5:19) five and just making a living, paying their bills, their rent, and just chilling and watching (5:25) Netflix and watching TV. And that's all they do. They are not those people that you see, (5:31) the ordinary, the average people.Maybe you have them in your life as well. (5:36) Those people are not willing to pay the price. They are not willing to pay the cost.They (5:43) don't want to do something awesome. They don't want to do something good in their life. So (5:48) that's why they fall back constantly to their average, ordinary life.They don't want to (5:54) work hard. They don't want to handle loneliness. They don't want to be feel isolated.They (6:00) want to have fun. They want to enjoy. They want to enjoy their days.They want to do (6:06) fun things. They want pleasure. They want lust.They want entertainment, but they don't (6:14) want to do something awesome. They don't want to do something great for their life, for (6:19) the people in their life. They don't want to make their family proud of them or their (6:25) friends proud of them.They don't want to chase dreams. Some of them, they talk about (6:33) dreams, they think about dreams, they visualize dreams, but then later on, they easily give (6:38) up. They're distracted constantly.They're procrastinated. They are distracted in their (6:44) days. They don't want to do the hard work.They say, I want dreams, but they are not (6:50) willing to pay the price. They are not willing to pay the cost. That's why they fall back (6:56) to their default, to their default life.But you're not like that. I believe in you. I (7:03) know you can do it.I know it doesn't matter how hard it is, how difficult it is, how isolated (7:10) you feel, how lonely you feel, because this is how it's supposed to be. Entrepreneurship (7:16) is supposed to be like that. But I know you never give up.You keep trying. You keep failing. (7:23) You keep making progress.So we all understand that the road to success is not easy. It is (7:34) hard and requires so much work, so much hard work, handling boring days, difficult days. (7:44) So, I mean, one of the mistakes that I made in my own entrepreneurship journey is that (7:52) I would always talk about dreams.I would always think and feel dreams in my body. But (8:00) my habits, my daily choices, they weren't aligned with my dreams. They weren't aligned (8:07) with that road that I'm taking or that path that I'm following.So it's super important (8:12) as entrepreneurs, we need to understand that, OK, dreams, they require building skills. (8:20) They require building habits. They require breaking our old habits that aren't serving (8:27) us, that are holding us back, that are preventing us from moving forward, from making progress, (8:33) from staying consistent, from showing up to our business, to our goals, to our dreams. (8:40) They require all that. They require that you protect your time, your energy, your focus, (8:46) your mindset, and you do not let anything distract you, anything prevent you, anything (8:51) stop you that day when you are working on your dreams. Because it's so easy to talk (9:01) and think about dreams, but dreams require those long days.We need to be working on (9:07) our dreams all day long, five, six days at least in a week. We need to constantly show (9:17) up every day, do the work, complete, make progress, reach milestones, achieve weekly, (9:26) monthly goals or reaching weekly, monthly milestones. That's how we make our dreams (9:32) come true.And don't get me wrong. We all make mistakes. We all get distracted sometimes. (9:40) We all fail. But it's super important that I'm constantly being aware and being conscious (9:47) of my distractions, of my old habits, and that I am constantly reflecting, reflecting (9:54) on every hour that I work, reflecting on every routine that I implement, reflecting on every (10:01) activity that I attend, reflecting on every project that I complete. Because when you're (10:10) doing that, when you're constantly being aware and reflecting on your routines, on your daily (10:15) choices, on your habits, you're making sure that you're moving either closer or you're (10:22) moving away from your dreams.You're making sure that you're either moving forward or (10:28) backward. When you're doing that, you're making sure that you're either making daily (10:34) progress and that you're not feeling stuck or stagnation every day, every week, every (10:41) month. And after six months, at the end of the year, you look back at your life.You (10:47) wonder, what have you done? Did you do the work that you were supposed to be doing? So (10:54) dreams are wonderful. Dreams are beautiful. Dreams, they make us feel happy, excited, (11:02) enthusiastic, hopeful.They make us feel wonderful. They make us feel proud, proud in front of (11:11) our people, in front of our family, in front of our audience, in front of our community, (11:18) in front of our clients, in front of the people that we are serving, that we are helping. (11:25) This is what dreams do.Dreams make us wake up early in the morning and showing up for (11:31) our morning routine because morning routines are powerful. They are super powerful. They're (11:38) making sure that we are starting our day working on our dreams.Dreams require consuming (11:47) healthy meals, taking care of our body, taking care of our brain, our mental health. Consuming (11:55) healthy meals always help us maintain good level of energy where we feel activated in (12:04) our body. We feel energized.We feel faster. We feel lighter when we are working, when (12:10) we are doing something great for our life. That's what dreams do.Because of my dreams, (12:18) I am so addicted insanely on consuming healthy meals. I always eat healthy. I always try (12:28) to do my best to avoid unhealthy options, unhealthy food.Even when I'm traveling, even when I (12:35) attend any train station, even when I go to the church, even when I visit people, I (12:42) always try to avoid those sugary, unhealthy choices. I mean, other people, they do it. (12:50) Why? Because they don't have dreams.But I have dreams. I don't want to impact my body. (12:55) I don't want to consume unhealthy food.My body matter. My health matter. My dreams matter. (13:05) I want to constantly making sure that I'm only consuming the most healthiest meals. (13:12) I always read about healthiness. I always watch other pod interviews or listen to podcasts. (13:20) Learning constantly about healthy meals, because I want to improve my healthy life. (13:27) So we need to be insane, insanely addicted to taking care of our body, to taking care of (13:35) our business, to taking care of our work, to taking care of our mental health, to taking (13:41) care of our dreams. So because of my dreams, I'm so happy.I'm so grateful that I go to bed early (13:51) and I wake up early, like 5 or 5.30 in the morning. And then I implement my morning routine (13:57) that triggers me to do the work, to reflect on my day, to make sure that I'm getting things done. (14:06) This is all happening because of my dreams.Because of my dreams, I want to meet my friends. (14:12) I want to visit my wonderful, my best friends. I want to share my progress with them. (14:19) I want to share my goals, my dreams, what I have done during the week. (14:25) I'm always talking to them. They always ask me, how is my business going? (14:32) How is my podcast going? Is it working well? (14:37) So I'm sharing constantly every progress, every milestone that I reach. (14:43) I'm constantly sharing my goals, my dreams, my vision of my future with them. (14:49) I love meeting my friends. I enjoy a lot because I get to share my dreams with them. (14:55) Because they are helping me. They are supporting me emotionally to follow my dreams. (15:06) So because of my dreams, I'm so happy.I'm so grateful for building this strong, powerful identity. (15:14) I have built this identity where I am constantly reminding myself about my identity. (15:20) I am the type of person who loves doing the hard work. (15:24) I am the type of person who loves going to the gym and doing his workout and his training. (15:32) And not skipping any workout, not skipping any sets, any reps, any running, any cycling. (15:40) This is all happening because of my dreams. (15:44) I'm so happy, so grateful that I show up every day to my work, to my goals, to my dreams. (15:52) I always remind myself about my dreams, about my goals. (15:56) What I want to accomplish, what I want to achieve, what I want to make reality. (16:05) So it's the dreams that always keep me going. (16:08) It's the dreams that always push me forward. (16:12) It's the dreams that always help me make progress. (16:17) It's those dreams that I feel them in my body all day long, every day, 7 days a week, 30 days a month, the whole year. (16:28) I'm constantly, constantly thinking and feeling my dreams in my body. (16:34) My dreams are living in my body. (16:36) My dreams is not just an idea that I thought about or that I'm not using thoughts or emotions or feelings. (16:49) No, my dreams are real. (16:51) They're living in my body. (16:54) They're living every day in my body. (16:57) I have dreams. (16:58) I will make them happen. (17:01) I'm showing up every day, every day, every day for those dreams. (17:06) I can't stop. (17:08) I can't get distracted. (17:11) I can't go out and attend entertainment or chase pleasure or accepting invitations constantly. (17:21) No, I have become really good at saying no to others because I have dreams. (17:29) Because I am living for my dreams. (17:32) I'm not living for distractions. (17:35) I'm not living that average life. (17:37) I'm not living for that 9 to 5 jobs. (17:41) No, I have dreams. (17:44) I mean, people, they care about their own dreams and I care about my own dreams. (17:50) So I don't let anybody distract me or avoid me from making those dreams come true. (17:59) I am so addicted. (18:01) I am so connected. (18:02) I am so attached to my dreams. (18:05) That's why I eat healthy. (18:06) That's why I only buy healthy choices from the grocery store. (18:13) That's why I show up every day to my dreams, to my goals, to my work. (18:18) That's why I hit the gym. (18:19) Five days, six days a week for my dreams. (18:25) So when you're doing that, when you're living this kind of lifestyle that is aligned, that is connected with your dreams, (18:33) it feels like you're paying the price. (18:36) You're paying the cost of those dreams. (18:39) Because if you're not doing that, then those dreams are just delusions. (18:45) They are just feelings. (18:47) They are just thoughts in your mind. (18:50) I mean, if you want to do real work, real job for your dreams, that's how you live. (18:59) You live from your identity. (19:02) You live from what your hearts tell you how to live. (19:08) When you have your dreams in your heart, you show up to those dreams every day. (19:14) You do the work. (19:15) You don't skip. (19:17) You don't escape. (19:18) You don't get distracted. (19:20) You don't let procrastination stop you from working on those dreams. (19:26) So do I feel great or do I feel awesome every day? (19:30) Not really. (19:31) I don't feel motivated sometimes. (19:34) Sometimes I'm not driven. (19:35) Sometimes I'm not excited. (19:37) Sometimes I'm not motivated. (19:40) But I understand something that I have dreams. (19:45) And my dreams, they don't depend on motivated days. (19:50) They don't depend on a drive. (19:52) They don't depend on how I'm feeling. (19:55) I am feeling awesome. (19:57) I am feeling wonderful because my dreams are living in my body, inside my heart, inside my mind. (20:05) So I don't have bad days, to be honest with you. (20:09) I don't have those days where I feel like I'm not motivated. (20:12) I'm not driven. (20:14) I'm not excited. (20:15) I don't have them because dreams are living in my body. (20:19) So I am living my dreams every day. (20:24) I mean, every day I live my days. (20:27) I feel like I'm living my future dreams. (20:32) That's how I show up in my days. (20:35) I'm not depending. (20:36) I'm not stuck with feeling motivation. (20:41) I mean, so many of us, we make the mistake of depending on motivation or drive. (20:48) I mean, we do the work only when we feel great. (20:50) We do the work when we are happy, when people are congratulating us. (20:56) Or when we meet friends or people that we love, that we care about. (21:01) Then we feel happy. (21:02) Then we feel excited. (21:03) Then we feel motivated. (21:06) So many of us, we work hard only when we see luxury cars, when we see that luxury house. (21:12) Or when we see something that drives us. (21:16) But that's not how it works. (21:19) You work on your dreams even when you see nothing. (21:22) Even when no one is watching you. (21:24) Even when no one is exciting you or motivating you or cheering you on. (21:33) Because successful people, they practice alone and then they perform in front of their audience. (21:43) They perform in front of their public people. (21:48) That's how athletic people do. (21:51) Athletic people in sport, they reach their success. (21:56) So they practice without any audience. (22:00) They practice without anyone is watching them. (22:04) They practice without anyone is motivating them or cheering them on. (22:09) But then they are rewarded by their audience. (22:13) They are rewarded by their community. (22:16) They are rewarded by the people that are watching them. (22:21) So when you work on your dreams and when you feel lonely, when you feel isolated, (22:27) when you feel like no one is supporting you, (22:29) that doesn't mean that you're not able to make your dreams come true. (22:34) That doesn't mean that you can't make your dreams come true. (22:38) Of course not. (22:39) You can make your dreams come true. (22:41) But you need to pay the cost. (22:45) Those dreams, they require a cost. (22:47) So my question for you, are you willing to pay the cost or the price for those dreams? (22:55) Because not everyone wants that. (22:58) Not everyone is willing to pay that cost. (23:02) So I think in entrepreneurship, we need to be insanely addicted to doing the work. (23:11) And we need to understand that those boring days, (23:14) those days where you feel isolated or when you feel lonely or when you feel like nothing is working, (23:23) those days, they don't determine whether you're going to achieve your goals or make your dreams come true or not. (23:34) It's those days that you show up, that you do the work, the real work, (23:40) even when you feel unmotivated, even when you don't have that drive. (23:44) Even when you feel worried, even when you feel sad emotionally, even when you feel afraid or fearful. (23:53) Those days, they determine your success. (23:56) They determine whether you can make your dreams come true or not. (24:02) So I would rather go through the hardship. (24:07) I would rather take risks. (24:09) I would rather handle those lonely days, those difficult days, those isolated days for my dreams, (24:18) than going and working for other people, helping them make their dreams come true. (24:25) See, this is how I view myself. (24:28) This is my identity. (24:30) This is how I see myself. (24:31) I see myself as a dreamer, but not helping others make their dreams come true. (24:40) I think so many of us, we are willing to go work for people. (24:45) We do what they tell us to do. (24:47) We're stuck in their schedule. (24:50) Sometimes we face hardship at nine to five jobs. (24:55) Sometimes we meet challenges. (24:57) Sometimes we go through difficult days. (25:01) And at the end, all we are doing is making other people's dreams come true. (25:06) But we don't do that for ourselves. (25:09) We don't live those hard days. (25:11) We don't accept them. (25:13) So many of us, we're not willing to do something great for our future, for our family, for our life. (25:20) We're willing to do it for others, but not for ourselves. (25:23) Is your happiness less important than other people's happiness? (25:30) Is other people's dreams are more important than your dreams? (25:36) Is other people's business or companies are more important than you build your own business or you build your own company? (25:48) So, by reflecting, by journaling, by really getting deep down on what you love in your heart, (25:58) if you have dreams that are living in your heart, in your body, (26:02) then please pay the price, pay the cost, do the work, show up, do whatever it takes for those dreams. (26:11) If you have dreams, be real with yourself. (26:15) Be honest with yourself. (26:17) Be serious with your days. (26:21) Those dreams, they require habits. (26:23) You need to be constantly building new habits and not let distractions steal your dreams. (26:29) Not let distractions, procrastination prevent you from making your dreams come true. (26:36) Because I believe in you. (26:38) I believe in your dreams. (26:39) I believe in your vision. (26:42) I believe in your future. (26:44) It's just all about how you live your days. (26:48) Are your days are aligned with your dreams or not? (26:52) Are your habits, your routines are aligned with your dreams or not? (26:59) So, that's it. That's what I got for you in this episode. (27:03) I hope you enjoyed and learned from this episode. (27:09) I am doing my best to share weekly episodes every week to help you break through in your entrepreneurial life (27:20) and make your dreams come true. (27:23) Dreams are worth it. (27:25) Dreams are wonderful. (27:26) Dreams are awesome. (27:28) But dreams require paying the cost. (27:31) Dreams require doing the hard work. (27:33) Dreams require laser focus. (27:36) That's how we make our dreams come true. (27:39) Our dreams are waiting on us. (27:41) We're not waiting on our dreams. (27:43) Our dreams are waiting on us. (27:45) So, I believe in you. (27:47) I love you. (27:48) And I know you can make your dreams come true. (27:52) Thank you so much for watching or listening. (27:55) And I can't wait to publish the next episode. (27:58) Have a wonderful day.