Why Most Dreams Fail—And How to Finally Make Yours Real

Everyone has a dream. It might be to write a book, launch a business, climb a mountain, change careers, or simply live with more purpose. But here’s the painful truth: most dreams never see the light of day. Not because people don’t care enough, or because they’re not talented, or even because life gets in the way. The reason most dreams fail is much simpler—and much more fixable. They fail because people don’t know how to turn those dreams into real, workable plans. In her powerful book Success in 7 Steps, Dierdre Wolownick gives us not just inspiration, but the tools to finally change that.

Dierdre doesn’t speak from theory—she speaks from lived experience. She became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan at age 66, launched a writing and speaking career in her 60s, and taught herself the tools needed to self-publish, conduct an orchestra, and speak to thousands. Her dreams didn’t come to life because she waited for the right moment. They came to life because she built a structure to support them. Most of us are taught to dream big—but we’re rarely taught how to follow through. We fall in love with the idea of what our lives could look like but get stuck when it’s time to act. Dierdre explains this disconnect clearly in the book. She says, “Dreams are lovely, but unless you know how to structure them, they’re just fog.” That fog keeps us trapped in cycles of wishing, starting, stopping, and giving up. The solution isn’t to dream smaller—it’s to dream smarter.

The starting point is clarity. One of the most common mistakes people make is not getting specific enough. Dierdre explains that if you can’t state your dream clearly—in a single sentence—it’s not yet a goal. It’s still a wish. The difference matters. A dream without structure is like a car without a road. No matter how powerful the engine, it’s going nowhere. But when you create a path, the journey begins. That’s why Dierdre created her 7-step method. It’s not just a motivational idea—it’s a repeatable process anyone can follow. The core of the method starts with three simple but essential questions: What do you need to know? What do you need to have? What do you need to do? These questions strip away the guesswork and force you to get real. Want to start a business? Then what do you need to learn? What tools or systems do you need to set up? What actions need to happen every week? It sounds basic, but that’s the beauty of it. It works.

Her structure helps people avoid the trap of jumping into action without preparation—or worse, staying stuck in preparation without ever acting. Both extremes are dangerous. What makes her system so powerful is that it balances both: learn, gather, and then do. And once you’ve done it for one goal, you can do it for anything else. Success becomes a habit, not a one-time event. Dierdre shares a personal story in the book about her mother, who spent her whole life dreaming of writing a novel. She never started. She never structured that dream. And when she passed away, that story died with her. That moment deeply impacted Dierdre, reminding her that dreams don’t wait forever. If we don’t honor them with action, they fade. That urgency is part of what drives her—and it’s why she encourages readers to stop waiting and start building.

There’s another reason dreams often fail: people believe they need to feel “ready” first. Dierdre completely dismantles that myth. Readiness, she argues, is a trap. If she had waited to feel ready to climb El Capitan, she never would have even put on a harness. Instead, she said yes to the challenge and trusted herself to learn along the way. That mindset changed everything. “Once you start thinking this way,” she writes, “there are no limits.” And here’s something else she teaches that most success books skip—your dream will change you. The pursuit itself will stretch you, test you, and bring out parts of you that have been waiting to emerge. You don’t need to already be the person who can reach the top. You become that person through the process. That’s the real reward of pursuing a dream with structure—not just the goal itself, but who you grow into along the way.

But even with the right system, Dierdre acknowledges the emotional challenges. You’ll feel doubt. You’ll have off days. That’s why one of her most powerful principles is this: give what you can, but never give zero. Even on the worst day, take one step. Read one page. Do five minutes. Those small efforts compound—and they keep your dream alive.