Bartender in his twenties and a video store clerk of a similar age. Both perceived by friends and family as you'd expect: typical shmoes. No particular reason for them to meet, or know each other, as they live and work in different cities.

Just funny how people can make a decision, a very specific decision, about where they intend to be at a set point in their own future. It's a wonder why you're not, when you give even a moment's thoughts to this high school dropout, renting videos to customers for a local lady who knew what she wanted -- to own a video store -- or to the bartender,who was NOT voted "Most Likely To Succeed" in high school, with his school-wide reputation as a real wiseass.

Ahhh, dreamers; don't you just love them? They are the most singularly interesting of all people. Although you personally might not know it, dreamers, the ones who sound the 'craziest,' have historically taken more action, far more action towards those dreams, than people like you... ... supposedly practical, pragmatic folks, who talk about how you COULD have your dream if only......

Uch, why are we exposed to such whining, loss-focused attitudes, especially now and today, with so many phenomenally effective shortcuts available to you within minutes, MINUTES of right now?

What makes it so offensive is that people who DON'T have their dream come true are in that position strictly because they refuse to hush up, put it in writing, and break it into smaller, much more manageable pieces. They'd rather make excuses, and explain why they can't have it, instead of listing ways to go about getting there.

Henry Ford phrased it well when he said,
  "People who say it can't be done
should stop interrupting those who are doing it."  

Please forgive me: I can't explain to you why my dreams are achievable or not: I'm just too busy working at making it happen. The identical energy that we both have, perfectly identical brain energy, appears to be focused in different directions: you focused on why you can't, me focused on how I can. I admit that I don't know HOW to make my dream come true, and then I go out and find people who can tell me; those who have done it, those who are doing it now.
 
Smell reality, folks. Let's say, for example, that you have never once sat at a computer. It requires, and I kid you not, it requires no more than 100 seconds from the time you first sit at a computer, even if it's the first time in your life, LESS than 100 seconds for you to learn how to get thousands of answers to a hundred thousand different question you might ask.
 
You want advice? Enormous loans? Freebies? Free courses on public relations or brain surgery, door-to-door instructions to a house on the other end of the country? Guitar lessons? The ability to use a camera many thousands of miles up in the sky? Free scholarships? All this and so much more are just seconds away when you learn how to search the Internet, which requires barely a minute of instruction or experimenting. If the computer you're sitting at is connected to the Internet, there is a white box in front of you. Just type what you're looking for, in plain language, and it will find it for you. Yes, that simply.
 
Regarding absolutely anything that I do not know how to do,do you really think I'll ask my mother, brother, or my Aunt Tillie/Nellie/Billie or Shmillie?

Of course not! I'm going to go as directly and quickly as possible to the horse's mouth:
  those who have already done it at a world-class level.  

Let's cut right to the chase. There can be no doubt, and no argument: when a dozen masters in a single field answer thirty-one questions, and four of their answers are almost perfectly AND universally identical, only a moron would presume to know more, or to know better, about the field in which they are masters, let alone how to get up the ladder to being a master. F'shtay? Capisce? Comprendez? You catching the flavor here?
 
Why would anyone go to the wrong end of the horse to seek top-notch info? Here we have the information, the methods, even the very words used by the best of the best in every single one of a thousand different human efforts. Gee, did I say a thousand? Yes, I did, probably because there's some question about whether you're even vaguely capable or willing to consider that there are thousands of experts on hundreds of thousands of different subjects.
 
Whew! That's a strong statement, isn't it? Life-changing, in fact, for those tiny little numbers of you, just seven in every one hundred, who are so much smarter than anyone around them (with the possible expection of one of your parents) ever, ever conceived of you being. Much smarter for no other reason than that you're openminded enough, therefore smart enough, to treat this document as a personal wakeup call AND advisory that virtually everything is available to you right now. As a result, the next few hours, and the next several days, will find you making more efforts, AND THEREFORE MORE PROGRESS, than you have ever made in your life before. Best of all, it applies to every known human effort, from getting a medical degree or on the local police force, into a rock band or running unusually successful garage sales at your home every month.
 
Since your actions of the past several months make it difficult to believe that you can grasp the very idea and reality of having thousands of experts on each one of so many thousands of human efforts,settle for understanding that you can find at least one thousand top-notch experts on any subject on earth.
 
Having made it past this intensely important bridge, let's shut up and tap into this potent resource, and let's do so today. Just 100 seconds to sit at a computer at any public libary in America and learn just about instantly how to search for any subject on earth.

Which brings to mind the bartender. A wiseacre, a joke-popping guy who thought he was a ladies' man. Much as he enjoyed bartending, interacting with so many new people, and, of course, meeting new girls. He also had this enormous desire for something specific, and, just like the video store clerk who lived and worked far away, he exhibited just one major difference between himself... ... and you.

Ah, now you're patting yourself on the back for thinking that you're smart enough to know the difference between you and the relatively broke bartender, aren't you?

You already jumped ahead to the conclusion that the difference between you is identical to the differences between you and the lowly video store clerk, true or not? You're just convinced that you're above average in intelligence, go ahead, tell the truth.

Well, that just goes to remind us of two life-changing facts:

1. people are rarely as intelligent as they believe themselves to be. Yes, including you. This is based on measuring not merely what you know, which only counts for a piece of the pie. It's based on measuring what you DO with what you know.



2. Being dumb and being smart are always a matter of choice.