Follow Your Dreams

The keynote speaker at our youngest daughter’s university graduation was Jeff Hoffman, founder and CEO of Priceline.  The theme of his commencement speech was to urge the graduates to chart their own course.  While listening to Hoffman’s speech, I was reminded about a study that was conducted of graduating college seniors. The study resulted in what might be the best advice you may ever get on how to become financially and mentally wealthy.  I thought it valuable to pass onto our readership.

If you would like to earn a lot of money or even if you just want to enjoy lots of success you might want to read about this true story. Some time ago, a random statistical sample of 1500 graduating college seniors were surveyed to find out what they would base their career choice on.

1245 of the 1500 (83%) of those sampled said that financial wealth was the first thing they would base their career choice on and second was following their dream, or their passion.  105 (7%) said that following their dream would be first and financial gain second.  Twenty years later a follow-up study on actual net worth was conducted. The results were amazing.

101 of the 1,500 (6.7%) sampled group had become millionaires.  However, only one of those millionaires had actually come from the group that put financial gain first (that’s less than 0.1% of the 1245)! An astonishing 100 of the 105 millionaires (95%) came from the group that followed their dreams!

What did this study prove?  Not much of anything really.  The study’s objective was simply to give us information about ourselves.  The point I want to make is that a path with heart, and a goal with passion driving it, can be incredibly powerful.  People who do great things have, above everything else, a purpose that stirs their inner soul and passion for success.

Eleanor Roosevelt said “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” So follow your dream or passion and do it with your whole heart.  In the words of Jeff Hoffman, chart your course with your passion and dedication – the rest will take care of itself.  If this particular survey is any indication, this is the way to become financially secure. More so, it is also the way to become mentally wealthy, because following your passions will make you happy and satisfied.  So where do your passions and goals lay?

Think about it.