Inspirational Olympian Jesse Owens once said, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” It’s a quote that resounds poignantly with entrepreneur and professional poker player Ashkan Fattahi. A dreamer by nature and a doer by design, he realized early on that the only way to chase and make real the dreams that captured his heart from day one was to dedicate his every waking moment to making them come true.

“Everyone, no matter who or where they are in life, at some point had a dream,” reveals Fattahi. “The only difference is most people, either through circumstances, lack of motivation, or despair, give up on their dreams and settle for a mundane and ordinary life. This was never an option for me.” Born with both ambition and an ingrained instinct that time was finite and highly precious, Ashlan Fattahi realized that most dreams wither and die because people think they have all the time in the world to achieve them.

“In my life, I’ve seen so many individuals putting off their goals and dreams until tomorrow, next week, next month, even next year, “explains Ashlan Fattahi, who added, “This is a common but cardinal mistake. If there’s something you want and hope to achieve, you need to be putting things in place to achieve it today, not at some distant point in the future. Pursuing and living a dream takes a lot of time, and that’s something you’ve only got a limited supply of.”

Fattahi adds “Do you want to be one of those people who wake up one day full of regret and bitterness at missed opportunities at what might have been, or do you want to accept the dare presented by your dream, throw caution to the wind and simply go for it 100 percent? That’s the only way I know to make the impossible possible, and by pursuing your dreams early you’re giving yourself much more of a fighting chance to make them a reality. When you’ve got adequate time to learn from your mistakes, adapt to changing circumstances and take stock of every eventuality, the odds are always stacked in your favor.”