I have recently come across a writer Paul Graham whose writings I think are greatly entwined with the american dream. Paul Graham created a startup company and made it rich, but he didn’t let it spoil him. He writes about ambition and writes inspirational essays and speeches to people encouraging them that yes they can achieve the american dream, if they try.

He praises such qualities as ambition, inspiration, and work ethic. He thinks that the best kind of people are people who can get excited about an idea and really carry it through. He says that discipline is forcing yourself to do something that you don’t like but that discipline is not required in starting a company. In order to start a company and do really well, what you need to do is be interested in the subject material of your company. You have to really like what you’re doing so that you enjoy doing it, and then its no longer discipline to do everything, but rather its ambition and drive. And you’ll always produce greater results when they are coming from ambition and drive instead of forcing yourself to do something you don’t enjoy.

Anyway, I’d like to recommend Paul Graham, author of the book Hackers and Painters. http://www.paulgraham.com