Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez

Ruben in Salt Lake Olympics

I’m going to share a sad fact with you. When I speak at an Elementary School and ask my audience, “Do you have dreams?” almost every hand goes up. When I ask the same question at a Middle School, only half of the hands go up. When I ask High School and College students if they have dreams, only a few hands go up. And when I speak to adults at conventions, or corporate events, I’m surprised if anybody raises their hand. In fact, I don’t even ask the adults anymore because it just embarrasses them.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Most men die at age 25 but are not buried until they are 70.” What he meant was, most people give up on their dreams before they are 30 years old, and spend the rest of their lives in “survival mode”, living day to day, just trying to get through the day rather than living a life filled with passion, in the pursuit of their dreams.

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