Well I don't think it all breaks down that cleanly in reality though. Everybody has dreams and some people pursue them 100% doing what they have to to get by in

Well I don't think it all breaks down that cleanly in reality though. Everybody has dreams and some people pursue them 100% doing what they have to to get by in the interim, and some just categorize them as dreams and never really pursue them. My point is that those who tell themselves "I'm not going to let outside pressures influence me and I'm going to do what makes me happy" very well may end up miserable in the short term while they are working to achieve their dreams. In the end, if they do not achieve their dreams (or even if they do) they have traded time that they could have succumbed to those pressures and been more comfortable with the end result of regretting not having had the guts to go after what they really wanted to go after. Then again, if you succumb and work forever in a job you hate and are miserable anyway then you haven't really succeeded in satisfying yourself now either. That's really a bad position to be in. I think Jim Coudal put it best in a talk he gave (actually he was quoting somebody else whose name I can't remember) where he said "The reason most of us are unhappy most of the time is that we set our goals not for the person we will be when we achieve them, but the person we are today." I have found that that is really true. For example, people often go to law school thinking that they will end up happy if they get a job that pays a certain amount and it will look good to their current friends so they spend a bunch of money and work their asses off to get through law school. Then they graduate and feel compelled to take a job as an attorney and they absolutely hate it. I know this because I have many many friends who are attorneys and they all are trying to find a way out. I think the mistake people make in those cases is not cutting their losses and being truly honest about what kind of life they want. There is so much pressure to maintain the status quo that they feel trapped.