How can I tell if my dreams are unrealistic? Are My Dreams Unrealistic?

A guidance counselor once told me that wanting to become a Rocket Scientist was as silly as saying you want to be the Easter bunny. Well, as one of the youngest Heads of Space Segment for Boeing and someone who launched rockets into space, that would have been impossible if I listened to her. The people who called it impossible were measuring my dreams with their own capabilities and internalized biases.

"Someone else's ceiling is not your sky."

Who is actually doing the judging?

Do not tell big dreams to small-minded people. When you share a large goal with someone who has already decided what is possible for themselves, your dream makes them uncomfortable. It is not cruelty. It is fear, reflected back at you dressed up as concern. The people shrinking your vision are usually measuring it with the only ruler they have: their own.

Ask yourself who you are surrounding yourself with. Are they supportive of you? Do they believe in your potential, not just your current position? If the people closest to you constantly bring you down or cannot picture your success, that will show up in how you see yourself. It always does.

What does the room you are in actually tell you?

If you are the smartest in the room, find another room. This is not arrogance. It is calibration. If you are working ten hours a week alongside people working seven, you will feel like you are excelling. Walk into a room where people are working twenty-five hours a week and you will see immediately how much runway you actually have. You cannot accurately measure a dream against people who are not chasing one.

Surround yourself with people who want to reach their highest potential, people who make you better, not people who diminish who you are.

How bad do you actually want it?

This is the one question worth turning on yourself honestly. You must make sure you want something badly enough, or you will not be able to stay consistent with it and you will burn out. A dream that belongs to someone else's idea of success for you will not survive difficulty. One that is genuinely yours will pull you through the hard weeks.

So before you decide a goal is too big, check your sources. Is the doubt yours, or did somebody hand it to you? And is the room you are in honest about what is possible, or just comfortable?