I’ve heard it a thousand times.

“One day, I’m gonna be super rich and famous and do whatever I want,” or something to that extent.

Besides a few exceptions, that’s all I hear from my peers when asking them about their goals for the future. But so far, nobody has become what they say they will be.

It’s time we put our money (or lack thereof) where our mouths are, right? Wrong.

We’ve been breeding a culture that feeds off the success of others and makes comparisons that leave nothing but inactive desire in the minds of young people. Rather than young and successful celebrities inspiring us – which they do to some degree – they do more harm than good, because we make impractical comparisons of their lives to our own.

When wealthy famous people say, “It’s not about the money,” after stepping out of a new Lamborghini in the latest designer clothes, it doesn’t really make their message all that convincing.

Money matters to all of us in some way. Perhaps young celebrities truly do believe that money doesn’t matter to them. Maybe that’s because they have a seemingly infinite supply of it.

I don’t know if it’s just a phase that every 20-something goes through, but everybody seems to have these elaborate, almost unrealistic goals about themselves and their futures.

Young people look at someone their age who has an incredible amount of success, then they look back at themselves and ask “What have I done with my life?” Then, the next question may be “What can I do to be like them?”

But, that second question is where people get misdirected. Rather than working hard to master a specific skillset or learn something new, they look to the material attributes of their successful peers. Somehow, physical appearance outweighs mental capacity in the fight for what is more important to obtain success.

Young people need to realize that most of these extremely famous and wealthy celebrities didn’t get to where they are by sitting on the couch and waiting for a talent agent to call them. No, they were breaking their backs working long and hard at achieving something they desired. Or, at least most of them were.

If you want to be a young, famous millionaire and that’s your dream, great. Nobody should have any right to try and stop you. But somebody should come along and tell you that it isn’t as glamorous as you probably think it’s going to be.

It takes commitment and dedication to achieve anything in life, so start putting in work. If you aren’t actively trying to reach your goals and grow as a person, please don’t tell me what your future entails. I already know.

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Twitter: @KatPoster