Inspiration comes from a variety of sources — whether it’s a book you’ve read, seeing someone else succeed, or an idea you get in the shower — but inspiration is a fleeting thing.

Most great endeavors start with a dream. I don’t mean the kind of dream you have at night either; I mean the kind of dream that makes you imagine wonderful possibilities. When you can see the possibilities, your imagination kicks into overdrive, and you start to think about what things might be like if you really did succeed.

Dreams are bigger than ourselves

We all have dreams of things that are bigger than ourselves. We want things, whether those things are to be in a good financial position, to have a nice house/car/job, or to reach some childhood goal. And those dreams are important, because they get you started.

But dreams aren’t everything. You have to actually do things too in order to get to where you want to be. Doing is a lot harder than dreaming, but it’s also a lot more rewarding.

What doing means

Doing means sacrifice. It could be sacrificing little things. Maybe it means giving up an hour of surfing the net when you first get home from work so that you can make a little progress on a side business. Maybe it means eating out less so that you can do or buy something else.

But doing also means progress. When you do something that brings you closer to your goal, by definition you make progress. Doing isn’t all sacrifice. It’s also satisfying. And the more you do, the more satisfied you start to feel. The better you feel, the further down the path of progress you continue.

Why you should do more than dream

Yes, doing the things that are required to reach your goals — instead of just dreaming about “someday” or taking the so-called “easy” route instead — is hard work. And it can be frustrating or downright depressing if things don’t go as planned.

But doing has one huge advantage that dreaming never does: sustained action turns dreams into reality.

What will you be doing?