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I dedicated the past two years
to understanding

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how people achieve their dreams.

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When we think about the dreams we have,

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and the dent we want to leave
in the universe,

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it is striking to see how big
of an overlap there is

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between the dreams that we have,
and projects that never happen.

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(Laughter)

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So I'm here to talk to you today

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about five ways
how not to follow your dreams.

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One: Believe in overnight success.

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You know the story, right?

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The tech guy built a mobile app
and sold it very fast for a lot of money.

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You know, the story may seem real,
but I bet it's incomplete.

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If you go investigate further,

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the guy has done 30 apps before

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and he has done a master's
on the topic, a PhD.

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He has been working
on the topic for 20 years.

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This is really interesting.

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I myself have a story in Brazil
that people think is an overnight success.

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I come from a humble family,

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and two weeks before
the deadline to apply for MIT,

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I started the application process.

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And, voilà! I got in.

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People may think
it's an overnight success,

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but that only worked
because for the 17 years prior to that,

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I took life and education seriously.

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Your overnight success story
is always a result

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of everything you've done
in your life through that moment.

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Two: Believe someone else
has the answers for you.

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Constantly, people want
to help out, right?

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All sorts of people: your family,
your friends, your business partners,

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they all have opinions
on which path you should take:

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"And let me tell you,
go through this pipe."

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But whenever you go inside,

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there are other ways
you have to pick as well.

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And you need to make
those decisions yourself.

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No one else has the perfect
answers for your life.

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And you need to keep picking
those decisions, right?

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The pipes are infinite
and you're going to bump your head,

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and it's a part of the process.

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Three, and it's very subtle
but very important:

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Decide to settle
when growth is guaranteed.

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So when your life is going great,

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you have put together a great team,

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and you have growing revenue,
and everything is set --

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time to settle.

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When I launched my first book,

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I worked really, really hard
to distribute it everywhere in Brazil.

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With that, over three million
people downloaded it,

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over 50,000 people bought physical copies.

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When I wrote a sequel,
some impact was guaranteed.

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Even if I did little, sales would be OK.

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But OK is never OK.

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When you're growing towards a peak,

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you need to work harder than ever
and find yourself another peak.

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Maybe if I did little,

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a couple hundred thousand
people would read it,

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and that's great already.

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But if I work harder than ever,

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I can bring this number up to millions.

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That's why I decided, with my new book,
to go to every single state of Brazil.

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And I can already see a higher peak.

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There's no time to settle down.

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Fourth tip, and that's really important:

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Believe the fault is someone else's.

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I constantly see people saying,

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"Yes, I had this great idea,
but no investor had the vision to invest."

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"Oh, I created this great product,

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but the market is so bad,
the sales didn't go well."

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Or, "I can't find good talent;
my team is so below expectations."

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If you have dreams,

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it's your responsibility
to make them happen.

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Yes, it may be hard to find talent.

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Yes, the market may be bad.

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But if no one invested in your idea,

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if no one bought your product,

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for sure, there is something there
that is your fault.

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(Laughter)

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Definitely.

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You need to get your dreams
and make them happen.

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And no one achieved their goals alone.

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But if you didn't make them happen,
it's your fault and no one else's.

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Be responsible for your dreams.

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And one last tip, and this one
is really important as well:

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Believe that the only things that matter
are the dreams themselves.

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Once I saw an ad,
and it was a lot of friends,

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they were going up a mountain,
it was a very high mountain,

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and it was a lot of work.

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You could see that they were sweating
and this was tough.

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And they were going up,
and they finally made it to the peak.

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Of course, they decided
to celebrate, right?

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I'm going to celebrate, so,
"Yes! We made it, we're at the top!"

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Two seconds later,
one looks at the other and says,

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"OK, let's go down."

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(Laughter)

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Life is never about the goals themselves.

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Life is about the journey.

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Yes, you should enjoy
the goals themselves,

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but people think that you have dreams,

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and whenever you get to reaching
one of those dreams,

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it's a magical place
where happiness will be all around.

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But achieving a dream
is a momentary sensation,

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and your life is not.

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The only way to really achieve
all of your dreams

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is to fully enjoy every step
of your journey.

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That's the best way.

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And your journey is simple --
it's made of steps.

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Some steps will be right on.

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Sometimes you will trip.

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If it's right on, celebrate, because
some people wait a lot to celebrate.

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And if you tripped,
turn that into something to learn.

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If every step becomes something
to learn or something to celebrate,

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you will for sure enjoy the journey.

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So, five tips:

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Believe in overnight success,

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believe someone else
has the answers for you,

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believe that when growth is guaranteed,
you should settle down,

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believe the fault is someone else's,

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and believe that only
the goals themselves matter.

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Believe me, you do that,
and you will destroy your dreams.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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Thanks.

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(Applause)