The one kind of dream that will always fail.

Recently, a young girl reminded me of the kind of dream that will always fail.

I was at a college speaking. It was my second time there. After I was finished, she came up to me and told me something.

She said, “After I read your book Quitter, I changed my major. My parents always told me I had to be one way, and so I thought that was true. So I started chasing their dream instead of mine. I was miserable. I spent the last year in my new major. I’m happy now. Tell everyone not to chase someone else’s dream.”

So today I am.

That’s the one kind of dream that will always fail. You can’t spend your life chasing your mom’s dream. Or your dad’s dream, or a professor’s dream.

You were designed with something unique to you.

And in thinking about that challenge, I ran into a song that seemed to provide a soundtrack to this moment.

The next time you’re tempted to live up to someone else’s expectation of how you should be, I hope you’ll remember to fight.