I talk with magician Kevin Blake Ferguson about the ups, and many of the downs of following your dreams.

Source Article: 7 Things to Consider Before Following Your Dreams, and One Before You Don’t

Theme Song:Yawn by Nick Dorian

00:00 -After I introduce this episode about following your dreams, Kevin talks about how we met, and how he became a magician.

3:12 - I begin reading from my article, where I talk about how we always encourage everyone to follow their dreams, and how maybe that’s not great.

4:31 - Kevin and I discuss the uniquely American pressure to follow your dreams, and how that becomes a problem when our dreams are mostly not going to happen.   

8:48 - I read from my article about how your inner child is not really a source of wisdom, and it’s ridiculous that we treat him/her as one.

10:05 - Kevin talks about an essay he read about how we never really leave the internal place we were at in high school, how we always tend to attach ourselves to our young identity.  I point out where I may have been wrong, meaning that we should have a childlike (re: nonexistent) fear of failure because it doesn’t really matter that much. 

12:16 - I read about making sure that your dream is really a dream—that it’s not just something you feel the need to pursue to be special.

13:24 -  I talk about times in my life where I’ve decided I wanted things to fit into society’s idea of what a person is.  Kevin talks about how that is part of why he’s wanted to be a magician, and he goes on about the importance of fulfilling an identity.  We conclude that that’s good for him, but not for somebody who isn’t on a track for success.  We also talk about how we’re also lead to always want more, due to hedonic adaptation.  This leads us towards a discussion of many ways we can be happy.

19:19 - I read from my article about how important it is that your dream isn’t stupid, and how this doesn’t get emphasized nearly enough.

20:01 - I ask Kevin how he has dealt with people being dismissive of his ambitions to be a magician.  This leads to a discussion how we can never really know when a dream should be dismissed and what a difficult problem that is.  He compares being stuck in a bad dream to being in a bad marriage. We talk about how living a balanced life and appreciating what you have is your only hope of being able to divorce your dreams.

25:08 - I read from my article about whether or not you need to do this as a job, and how important it is to have the logistics of your dream figured out.

26:31 - I ask Kevin how he figured out his logistics with magic.  The conclusion is that I was likely kinda wrong in my initial writing, and that you have to just get started and learn by doing.

29:58 - I read about how important it is to accept failure as an option for your own mental health, and how it might be best to bail on your dream.  I go into even more detail about how brave it really is to bail on your dream and accept a normal life.

33:46 - I ask Kevin if he would have given up on his dream if he weren’t having success.  He says he likes to think he would, but reiterates how hard it is to know that success is coming.  We also discuss the importance of trying intently.  Lastly Kevin poignantly points out how failure is not the same as changing your dream.  It’s okay for your dreams to change, and you 

38:16 - In my final word, I talk about why our dreams are like marriages that we commit to when we’re six.  There might be nothing we can do about that, but we can still open up our eyes and divorce our dreams, and move on with our lives.

39:29 - Wrap up