The definition of the ‘American Dream’ is uncertain, because it depends on what your definition of ‘Dream’ is. You must ask yourself, “what is my American Dream?”

Martin Luther King’s American dream was racial equality. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s American dream was to bring fair-trade ice cream to the world, and Walt Disney’s American dream was to be a successful movie animator.

Your ‘American Dream’ could be anything of the successful nature. It doesn’t matter. What ties all American dreamers together is their combined desire in achieving the American dream in what they do best.

What is My American Dream?

The American dream is fundamentally an ‘ideology traditionally shared by all US citizens’ which believes that every individual; rich, poor, black, white, male, or female has the freedom and the opportunity to prosper, because achieving the American dream comes through hard work and perseverance. And these are two qualities that are not subjective to their developer.

Similar theories and beliefs can be found at the backbone of any self-development book or website, including ours. We suggest that you get what you work for. And the bigger your dream, the harder you have to work.

And why are these beliefs shared? Because the principles behind the American Dream are designed to do the same thing for their followers as the principles behind a self-help book or website; to encourage the follower to expand their reach and their efforts and to give everyone in the world hope that success is in their hands to shape.

Examples of the American Dream…

Harland Sanders came from a quiet town in Kentucky, where he held a number of jobs in his early life. None of these jobs were very well paid, and demanded long hours. But despite all this, Sanders sacrificed his time, his money, his efforts and he began to sell fried chicken from a roadside restaurant. The restaurant was popular among the people, despite the economic depression. KFC is now one of the biggest fast food companies in the world.

J.D. Salinger was born in New York City on New Years Day with a passion for literature but his father did not approve of the dreams he had, or his son’s lack of academic success. In the public schools Salinger attended he did not do well. He was not a popular adolescent and dropped out of University in his fresh-man year. Yet Salinger picked himself up and didn’t let anything cross his dream. Now, Salinger’s literature works, particularly the Catcher in the Rye have become some of the greatest and well respected of all time.

Abraham Lincoln was raised from birth to adult by a poor family in Western America. Throughout his childhood he lived in a one-room cabin and was forced to self-educate himself law when the time came and there was no money to get a further education. But that didn’t stop Lincoln from becoming the 16th president of the Unites States of America. And it didn’t stop Lincoln leading America through the bloodiest civil war it has ever faced in the name of abolishing slavery.

Related Reading: Abraham Lincoln – Life & Lessons

What the above example people had in common was their unlikely background for success. Neither of the three was rich. Neither of them had an easy journey. But what they did have was the mindset to achieve the American dream of theirs anyway. To self-sacrifice. To push through. To persevere.

“My American Dream” – Achieving the American Dream

1) Take Full Responsibility for Your Failures

Don’t pin your hopes on what you think is “easy” money, fame or success. Living and achieving the American dream is all about learning what you can and using that knowledge and work ethic to bring your ideas to life.

2) Take Full Responsibility for Your Successes

To live the American dream you have to be proud of who you are and what you have achieved. If you don’t believe in your successes then they won’t be satisfying in the long run and you won’t want to keep working to strengthen that success. If you are motivated towards taking your success into you own hands, I can garmented that your success will be a much more honest, much stronger, more real contentment than the man who relied on luck or lottery.

3) Understand the Concept of ‘from Rags to Riches’

This is the cornerstone of the American Dream. Don’t use your background as an excuse; in fact all excuses for American dreamers don’t count for anything. If you want to make it big, have to believe that you can work your way up to any level through self-sacrifice and perseverance. After all, money helps to get the ideas on the ground and running. But you have to be having great ideas in the first place to get them on the ground.

4) Leverage Your Resources

Use who and what opportunities you have at hand. And use all of them. No exceptions. Martin Luther King was a black man speaking out for racial equality when the world around him was mostly racist itself. But he used the fighters he did have on side, the skills as orator he had developed over the years and he risked his life to make a change.

5) Believe You Can Make A Change

Living the American dream and having these beliefs, means that you are more likely to grow to meet your fullest development because you’re taking it into your own hands. This means that success is as possible to you as it is to a richer, more qualified or seemingly luckier person. The biggest difference between American people and people from anywhere else in the world is their positive mindset. Whoever you are, whatever your dream, the biggest thing to remember is that you can live the American dream and bring similar prosperities to your own life wherever you are from.

And what better than to self-develop yourself and to get into the mindset of positive thinking, responsibility and resourcefulness?

Wrote by Aimee Hall – Follow us on Twitter: