It is well known that Daisuke Matsuzaka once declared his future at an elementary school graduation ceremony in front of parents.
“I will play at Koshien, be drafted first overall into professional baseball, and become a 10-billion-yen player.”

At the time, many of the parents reportedly laughed, thinking it was nothing more than a child’s fantasy.
Yet, Matsuzaka went on to turn those words into reality.

Children’s dreams are often dismissed by adults with phrases like, “That’s just wishful thinking.”

Shohei Ohtani, however, held a different view.
If you have a goal in life, he believed, you should say it openly and without hesitation.

From the time he started playing baseball in the second grade, Ohtani confidently told people,
“I’m going to become a professional baseball player.”

He has said that he never once doubted that future.
The reason, he explains, is simple:
the children who can stand up and declare their dreams out loud in front of adults are the ones who actually become professional players.

As people grow older, they tend to set aside the dreams they had as children in favor of more “realistic” paths.
But only those who continue to speak their dreams openly — even when they are laughed at — and pursue them persistently are able to make those dreams come true.

By putting their goals into words and backing them up with effort, they eventually convince the adults around them as well.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Soaring Years I – Japan 2013–2018, p.126