Do you want to write a book or choreograph a ballet? Can you envision your name in lights on a marquee over a theater on Broadway? Can you hear violins floating up the scale of an etude that you want to compose? Maybe you would like to build an elegant bridge or design a mile-high skyscraper? Do you want to produce a play? Open a restaurant? Start an obedience school for recalcitrant pups?

Whatever it is, it is a dream, and it’s your dream. It is something that you passionately want, and wanting it is part of what defines you.

That is a good thing. It is what Life (with a capital “L”) is all about.

Having a roof overhead, an amply filled tummy, safety, friends, and family is nice. Very nice. But if there is something inside you that longs for sparkle, glimmer, and shine, then the four food groups are not enough. If you count yourself among those fortunate few who have a need to make something, do something … create something, then pay attention. I have some advice for you:

Do not listen to the “no-people.”

Do not listen those who will tell you what you cannot achieve.

They are the nay-sayers, and there are millions of them. They lurk in the shadows like starving lions hunting prey, and they are savagely ready to pounce upon your dreams.