My American Dream Has a Number

My American Dream has a number, 4.92. No, it’s not the interest rate I got when I bought my house or my car, and it’s not a 50-meter dash record or anything like that. I will tell you the story of that number shortly, but first, I thought I would share a bit more of my journey.

As a middle-class Uruguayan, I came to the United States in 2008 and became a citizen a few years ago. My pursuit of the American Dream didn’t really start when I first moved to the United States, however. I really loved the country and the opportunities it gave me and my family. But it wasn’t until a family trip to Disney World when something really clicked for me and set me on a different path.

It was our first trip to Disney World with our son when he was two years old. I had been to Disney once before that, but the significance of the place had never dawned on me—besides just being the iconic American landmark it was. As I walked through the park that year, many exhibits were closed, as they were having maintenance done. But in the walls covering some of these temporarily closed attractions I kept seeing inspirational quotes by Walt Disney.

I’ve always been a sucker for good inspirational quotes. I can’t remember all of them I saw that day, of course, but I think they were some of his best: “If you can dream it, you can do it,” “Remember, it all started with a mouse,” and “All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.” Those quotes piqued my interest to learn more about Disney, the man. After that trip I bought two biographies on Walt Disney, and as I read them, seeing the life he had built while chasing his own dreams, things began to click for me even more. More on my thoughts about his own story in a later post.

Later that day I was lifting my son on my shoulders to watch the usual show in the Magic Kingdom where all the main Disney characters assemble in the castle and act out a story. In one part they were all reciting what they wanted to be in life. The characters were telling the kids about being princes and princesses, about being heroes, about being themselves. I’ve always been a goal-oriented person that thinks (maybe too much) about meaning and purpose in life. And even though I did have dreams and aspirations, I didn’t think too much until that point about any specific big dream I had.

Maybe it was something about having my two-year-old enthralled with watching those characters whom he loved watching on the TV show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that got me thinking about the true meaning of what those characters were trying to say, what Walt Disney was trying to say: that life, and the pursuit of happiness, is about being anything you want, about chasing your dreams, about pursuing a meaningful, adventurous, and courageous life. And I wanted that for my son for sure. Someday when he grows up, I thought, I hope he keeps this message in mind, although I imagined it would be buried deep down in his subconscious mind. But I also started to think more deeply about my own dreams and aspirations.

My own mission in life has been to tackle poverty, which is why I studied economics and was working in the nonprofit public policy world. In Latin America one does not see vast opportunities and paths to flourishing and achieving dreams. It’s a very narrow corridor. But in the United States, I was in the land of the “American Dream.” The main understanding I had of it back then was simple: if you worked hard and were persistent, regardless of where you were from or where you started, you could achieve your dreams.

That is mostly what it still means today, but I’ve become more of a student of the American Dream, and there is much more to the national ethos of the American Dream than just hard work and perseverance. You also need to be able to project yourself into the future, to have goals and meaning, and exercise your individual agency in pursuing those goals. A lot of it is also about the journey and not necessarily the destination.

Now back to my 4.92 American Dream. A few years after that fateful trip to Disney World, I acted on those thoughts and started to live my own American Dream. I founded a nonprofit dedicated to rekindling the American Dream, enabling more social mobility, and supporting human flourishing. Being able to write this article is certainly part of the dream coming true for me. Has the road been easy? Not even close.

So why 4.92? 4.92 was my Uber driver rating. When things got tough financially, I wasn’t earning a full salary for quite some time and was racking up a substantial amount of credit card debt, I took on another part-time job as an Uber driver.

But despite the uncertainty and struggle of that time, that episode in my life represents everything I cherish about the American Dream. I had the opportunity to pursue my American Dream and chose to do so. I became an entrepreneur, albeit an intellectual entrepreneur, as my organization is a think tank. But I was not promised success, and it is no guarantee even now. This country and the promise of the American Dream gave me the opportunity to pursue what was most meaningful to me. But there are no assurances. The American Dream is not all flowers and sunshine, there are sacrifices, there is pain and not just joy; it is not a caricature of becoming wealthy, owning a house, a car, or even just enjoying retirement, which are some of the main things that have been associated with living the American Dream.

So when things weren’t going according to plan, I had to continue pushing forward and make ends meet by working as an Uber driver—a decision in which I take a lot of pride. Sometimes between customers, I would follow up on certain projects, reply to emails from donors, and even discuss papers with Nobel laureates with whom we were trying to work. Aside from finances, the stress of it all had taken a toll, albeit a small one, on our family.

But through it all, and with the support of my family, the opportunity to continue to pursue my goals while working part time on a flexible schedule was one of the best experiences I’ve had. I reaped the benefits that the entrepreneurial spirit and innovations of businesses like Uber and other gig economy companies are able to provide to so many who refuse to stop pursuing their dreams.

Some people have told me that when someone says they’re living the dream they think about an old couple in Florida enjoying their retirement . . . that it’s something that happens after you have achieved a great career or have been able to save up for your retirement. And even though having a good retirement and striving to live a good, relaxed life is part of the American Dream it is certainly not the main pillar.

When I originally set out to start my nonprofit, one of my first board members introduced me to the concept of “Living the Dream.” I knew about the American Dream, but when I had one of the first calls with one my first board members, he always started the calls by responding to my opening of “How you are doing?” with the phrase “Just ‘living the dream.’” This board member is a successful entrepreneur who owns an energy company, but by no stretch of the imagination did I think it was all easy for him. And in later conversations with him he would share his worries, how difficult it was to run his business, and all the problems he was facing.

But he wasn’t complaining, and saying he was “living the dream” wasn’t sarcasm. All those experiences both for him and for me represent the good and the bad, the failures and the triumphs. They represent what it means to pursue the American Dream. And our stories are not exclusive to any of us by any stretch.

There have been countless people throughout our country’s history who have endured even more challenges. Even today’s successful entrepreneurs and founders go through these ups and downs regularly. But that is what makes each dream unique. And that is what has made the American economy and culture resilient and dynamic. That is what makes this country the home of more than 300 million American Dreams.

I first wrote about my 4.92 American Dream right after the 2020 election. We are again in an election year, and both then and now the candidates were/are vowing to deliver on the promise of the American Dream. Every election is always the “most important election,” and even though we’re going through some polarized times, we can hope that after the election things will become less polarized. While this hope is important, I wouldn’t bet on it. Regardless of which political party is in the White House, our best bet for empowering people to achieve success is striving to coalesce around the promise and vision of the American Dream, instead of relying on politics or government for our ultimate source of purpose, power, or meaning.

In the meantime, even though things have turned around for me, and I haven’t driven for Uber in a while, I still haven’t deleted my Uber profile. I will be ready to use it again and again whenever needed, because I am fortunate enough to find myself in a country where I am free to pursue my dreams, against all odds if necessary.

This is the first post on this Substack where I will share my own journey, everything I’m learning studying the American Dream through my work, and I will try to answer and address some of the questions I set out in my inaugural video in a series also called “Living the Dream.” Stay tuned for more content, and in the meantime, thank you for joining me in my journey of Living the Dream.

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