15 Inspirational Moments From The Most Awesome Rock Film Of All Time: "Almost Famous"

If you're really serious about achieving your wildest dreams, you have to be persistent. William faces that reality from the ripe young age of, well he's not sure what age he was (remember?). 

But, he pushes through his mother's roadblocks, convinces Lester he can write for Cream magazine which leads to a shot at Rolling Stone and finally he's forced to deal with Russell's up-and-down attitude. He found a way to make his rock journalist dreams come true, and it started with his persistence.

When you're chasing your life's dream, you literally never know when something can come up. Just like William didn't think sending stuff from his school newspaper to Lester Bangs would turn into an opportunity to write for Cream, he certainly didn't think that tactic would work for Rolling Stone–but it did.

Similarly, IRL, you've got to try every angle you can think of, and when someone finally responds to your efforts, you may not have planned it this way, but you have to just run with it.

Probably the most insightful moments of the film are in this scene where Lester and William share a little breakfast. William gets to see into the mind of the type of person he wants to be–in his career, and in his life. They discuss staying up all night just to write long dictations that may never even get used.

Lester tells him to call him, at any time, because he "stay(s) up late," you know, since he'll be writing. And, that's the point: if you love what you do, you do it every moment you can.

This realization of dream chasing shows up in frequent beats throughout Almost Famous. William has to convince his mother he should skip the final days of high school to go on tour. Stillwater has to jump onboard with a new agent and start flying to shows (it doesn't end well). Penny realizes it's time to move on and leave for Morocco, like she always said she would.

In your path toward doing what you love most, you have to be willing to drop everything and just go–no matter the circumstances.

There's always going to be a shortcut to success, or at least that's what people would like you to think. People will convince you anything in that regards, so long as it benefits them as well. Stillwater thinks they can use William to their advantage and try to make things easy on him: "Just make us look cool."

They're taking away from what he's there to do, but painting it as a picture toward success. In the end, he realizes he has to do what is right: write the real story.

No matter what dream it is that you're facing, things are going to get a little bit wacky at times. Sure, in the case of this movie, things get extremely wacky, because it's dealing with a 70s rock band tour, but you'll face this similar type of dilemma on your path too.

In order to reach success, however, you can't succumb to these moments. William could've let this bad trip from Russell crush his Rolling Stone story aspirations, but he gutted it out until the end.

William can't get away from the roadblocks it seems, and that's again in large part due to the fact he's on a 70s rock band tour. But, this exactly the time of things you have to prepare yourself for when attempting to attain your dream. Just when William thinks he's in good with the band, he realizes he's getting nowhere.

That's what's so important to take away from this fictional experience: just when you start to get comfortable, know that you're probably settling behind a roadblock.

The craziest thing about your path toward success is when you're pushing through all the aforementioned trials and tribulations, you can begin to feel down and out. William starts to think he just needs to leave and "go home." That's when Penny ushers the epiphany upon him, "You are home."

One day, in chasing your dream, you'll realize you're not only on the right path, but you're exactly where you've always wanted to be in life.

But again, as soon as you get comfortable, things are going to try and stop you once again. You've faced roadblocks on this path before and pushed through. This time is no different. Stay persistent and keep working.

If you really want to achieve your wildest dreams, you won't ever settle just for something that will get you by. William initially sells a story idea to Rolling Stone that isn't much more than a nice write-up on Stillwater–as they would've wanted it. When Rolling Stone hates it, William realizes he needs to use his skills and write exactly what happened.

He's knows it may not sit well with the band, but that type of writing is what rock journalists do. You've got to stick to your guns.

The point of chasing your dream is to do what you want with your life, and that idea also shows up frequently throughout the film. It starts when William gets of his sisters classic rock records and he "sees his future." Then, once he's made it out into the world as a rock journalist, everything he experiences will undoubtedly stick with him the rest of his life.

When you're on your path toward your dream, you'll find yourself looking back and smiling at the moments that got you there.

And it's not just moments in time patting yourself on the back with your own narcissism. It's the people you meet along the way. They influence you in so many ways. You have to soak the good and the bad you see in them and use it to continue tailoring what it is that you want to do.

Russell and Penny teach William countless messages of being true to yourself (although for them, it was hard), and it's safe to assume he'll act differently because of it. You have to do this in real life as well.

There's plenty of times William could've just shut down what it was that he was there to do, but instead, he had fun when it was undeniable (as seen above), yet didn't let that slow him down either. It's important to not let attaining your dream dominate your life, but equally, it's important not to let your life dominate your potential dream.

Simply put: you just have to do whatever it takes. If you really want something, there should be nothing that holds you back. Almost Famous epitomizes that ideology, because there's not a single person in the cast that lets anything stand in their way.

On the path toward achieving your dream, you'll finally realize that you've done just that. What will then come full circle is the fact that persistency is what got you in the door, but it's also what got you into the next door and the next. If you keep pushing and working hard, nothing can hold you back. William, Stillwater and Penny all have this realization as the film comes to a close.

Thanks Almost Famous for all the life and career advice. Maybe by next anniversary I'll have more to share.