Okay, I have to address this, because this is a...

Okay, I have to address this, because this is a huge career mistake you are about to make. Most of the successful people you see did NOT follow their dreams. They took opportunities.

When a successful movie star or a celebrated artist tells you to “follow your dreams and never give up” he is giving you a bad advice. Sure, it worked for him, but it did not work for the other millions of people who also set out to become a movie star or an artist but never made it to the red carpet. It’s like a lottery winner saying that the secret to winning the lottery is simple: just keep buying lottery tickets even when people tell you not to. Hey, it worked for him! But it did not work for about 100 million other people who kept buying lottery tickets but just kept wasting money. But those guys do not get screen time on national TV to hand out life advice!

It’s called the survivorship bias and is one of the more common logical flaws to make: just because something worked for someone who made it does not mean it’s a good strategy. Not unless you know how many other people tried and failed doing the same.

Success is when hard work meets opportunity. You can put in the hard work but what if there is no opportunity? What if the world does not need another movie star right now? What if there is an ample supply of graphic artists, comedy writers, environmental activists or dance therapists in your area?

For every successful graphic artist, writer, singer, actor or dancer, there are literally millions who had the same dream, the same passion, worked equally hard but did not have the lucky or privileged opportunities and failed. You simply do not see all those who failed. You only see the one who is on the stage, the one with a million twitter followers giving you an advice that has literally a 1 in a million chance of success: follow your dreams.

Do not follow your dreams, because at 18 you literally don’t know shit about the world. You don’t even know what is out there. There are literally thousands of jobs you don’t even know exist. So take the opportunities that are there, work hard, be persistent and strive to become better at what works, and don’t be afraid to walk away from what doesn’t.

Don’t believe me? Maybe you will believe Mike Rowe: