When I watch an awards show and an actress delivers a speech saying "follow your dreams", I have to swallow my own vomit.

She ignores the fundamental truth: she is one in a million. She got there through looks, talent, connections, etc. that the other 99.99% don't have. She didn't get there by "following her dreams" or "pursuing her passion". She got there because she had a nice smile/knockers, could cry on command, or her father owns the studio.

For every American Idol winner, there are thousands of people who simply can't sing and are too delusional to accept it. They then go on wasting their time trying to "follow their dreams" fruitlessly while watching other opportunities pass them by.

Why are there so many pansies who keep looking at the 0.1% and accept it as reality? NO, YOUR DREAMS WON'T COME TRUE. THEY'LL ONLY COME TRUE UNDER A VERY SPECIFIC SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES FOR A VERY SPECIFIC SET OF PEOPLE.

You can like something as a hobby, do it with your friends, and be happy. But be realistic. There are things you can do as a career and there are things you simply can't.

How about "follow your abilities" or "follow reality" or "follow opportunities" instead? Or how about get your head out of your ass and work for a living instead of fooling around with something that will never happen?

also

Then again the 0.01 wouldn't have accomplished what they did if they believed as you did. I kinda agree with you but I kinda don't. If someone has a gift or talent they should pursue it. Sometimes it takes a bit to develop it.

No, sorry, these people had the talent that fueled their pursuit of whatever they wanted to do. If Taylor Swift  (if you like her) wasn't born with the voice, her family or friends wouldnt have pushed her to pursue it. Ability came first then they learned to like it.

What I'm referring to are people who don't, or will never have, the ability to pursue something as a career. For example, my dream has always been to be a professional StarCraft player. But I quickly realized I neither have the talent nor the speed to make that happen. So I play for fun. If I realized in the beginning that I was good, I would keep at it and pursue it professionally. I would only do that if I realized I'm good.

Ability comes first.

Depends on what your dream is, if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer you should defenitely follow that. If you want to be famous its a huge gamble depending on luck more than anything so I would not advice it.

I don't think so. Anything that requires a high level of skill can't be done by just anybody. Even something like carpentry requires you to be handy. Not everything can be learned even if you put a lot of effort into it.

Alot of the time a person won't know they have the ability at something unless they try in earnest. Some gifts won't manifest until they learn the basics or their talent is not apparent til they succeed at it. So I disagree with ya.

Ok tell me how many singing lessons for a tone deaf guy to get a Grammy?

How many hours in the gym for a 5'2 Asian guy to become an NBA player?

Your argument is ludicrous.

Well I'm talking about becoming successful and making a career out of something, if you cared to read the op. I already said, if you like to do something, by all means, make it a hobby. Go ahead. But don't be delusional thinking you can make it professionally. It's ludicrous.

Of course, but there's nothing you can do about it. It's pretty shitty though to discredit the hard work some people had to do to get where they are. Or were they just gifted with being able to work hard?
I was born into a middle class family. 10 years ago I didn't even have a dream and now I'm living it. A middle class job in a field I have fun. I did get lucky along the way but without actual work I couldn't have kept that dream that was gifted to me.

Pursuing your dreams is a good thing to do. Because, what else are you supposed to do? Just wallow in your misery and write depressing forum threads on the internet?