• Peter Csathy is a studio exec, startup CEO, media and tech advisor, music dealmaker, and podcaster.
• He calls leaving a Hollywood studio job for a startup the 'stupidest' decision of his career.
• In the long run, it led him to achieve higher heights of personal and professional satisfaction.

The following is adapted from a book excerpt.

I began my career as an entertainment lawyer in a major firm. It was a lucrative, predictable professional path that likely would have generated more money over time than my far more circuitous one —studio executive, startup CEO, media/tech advisor, music dealmaker, author, podcaster — has.

But early on, I chose a different path to pursue my bigger dream of playing a part in a major Hollywood studio. And after seemingly endless rejection, and through sheer tenacity and will, I scored the lottery when I found my way "in" — jumping the industry's velvet rope and landing in the senior executive ranks at Universal Studios.

And then, just a few years later, I left. I left to enter the great unknown of entrepreneurialism — into the world of internet 1.0 in the late 1990s where dreams were big, but salaries small. Never mind that; I was going to score big and fast in my inevitable IPO.

Only I didn't, and my decision to leave Universal in favor of an overblown internet startup (a digital greeting card company, for God's sake!) became my stupidest decision in my professional career.

My wife, Luisa, was pregnant with our first child, Hunter. It's not as if we had built a substantial nest egg up to that point. And I had been making a nice salary in Hollywood, with plenty of upward room to grow. When I announced I was leaving Universal, in fact, the big boss at the time offered me an important, prestigious new job with significantly more money. But I left anyway.

And then internet 1.0 crashed and burned — and my digital greeting card company with it. All while Luisa watched and wondered, "What the hell was he thinking?"

'Young, dumb, and done'

She was absolutely right, of course. She always has the better judgment and pulse on things. And so, at the time, we both felt that I had cratered both my career and our financial security. Young, dumb, and done.

But you know what? My worst professional mistake ultimately became my biggest professional and personal break — the best thing that ever could have happened to us (although we certainly didn't see it that way at the time, and for several years thereafter).

Here's the thing. My impulsive decision to leave Hollywood led me onto a completely different, non-linear entrepreneurial path. A path that led us down to San Diego for my next gig, pioneering online music company Musicmatch (which was acquired by Yahoo!). That's where we had our second child, Luca and settled in the beautiful hamlet of Rancho Santa Fe.

I didn't play it safe, and that decision to "go for it" opened up a whole new career path for me that I couldn't see at the time, one where I could have significantly more impact and be significantly more creative. It enabled me to take more risks, pursue more dreams, and achieve higher heights of personal and professional satisfaction (even as those risks also certainly led to more heartburn).

Now, we can't even imagine a life without Luca and his big sister Hunter anywhere else. Their lives — all of our lives — have been idyllic here in Rancho Santa Fe. Could I have been equally happy in a Hollywood studio and living in LA? Maybe. But we certainly wouldn't have had the wonderful life we've had in the same way. I'm grateful for that.

Pursuing dreams — putting yourself out there — is a far riskier way to live. But it all led to the personal and professional life I'm living today. For me, the trade-off was worth it.

Not all dreams work out — and that's okay

More recently, Luisa dreamt big and leveraged her deep spirituality to build a youth empowerment and community organizing business — something she was born to do. She's a quiet force of nature; people just gravitate toward her, effortlessly. And her business was beautiful — meaningful, impactful.

But ultimately it was all-consuming and didn't give her the satisfaction she was hoping for, because not all dreams do.

But Luisa acted. She tried it. No regrets. Who knows where that experience leads her next? It certainly expanded her network of people she respects, and those new relationships can lead to other new opportunities. It also gives us more priceless time to explore this country's great open roads together in our Sprinter van — which has always been another dream of hers. The Sprinter is her happy place when she takes the dogs to the beach, opens the back doors, and takes in the sunsets over the ocean. Now she can do all of it with no regrets of wondering, "What would have happened if I tried?" "No regrets" is a great way to live, even if there's some heartache along the way.

Our two children Hunter (now 26) and Luca (24), not surprisingly, are pursuing their own dreams too — Hunter as a creative in the entertainment business, making it entirely on her own, and Luca as a filmmaker, with no roadmap of getting from point A to point B. Both have chosen what many would caution as being an alternative, or even impractical, path.

But because we're all dreamers, Luisa and I believe they will be better and more fulfilled because of it, no matter what happens. It will add to their lore and expose them to entirely new things — all of which can add to their long-term happiness.

Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project, is widely known as being a leading expert on the subject. One of her famous mantras is, "Enjoy the fun of failure." She teaches that you simply aren't aiming high enough if you're not experiencing some level of failure or intense stress. I certainly did when my digital greeting card company flopped. Rubin's research shows that true satisfaction doesn't come from static comfort and financial security. It comes more from taking action and stretching your capabilities.

Meanwhile, research by renowned relationship psychologist Dr. Eli Finkel concludes that one of the single biggest predictors of marital success is when spouses support and champion each other's dreams. He calls this the "Michelangelo phenomenon" — a spouse's support sculpts away excess stone to help reveal the core essence of their partner's dreams. Those spouses who prioritize money over dreams, on the other hand, risk creating dangerous fault lines of toxic resentment and contempt.

How to dream big in your own life

Here are some ways to begin to "dream big" in your own life — whatever "big" means to you, because it certainly doesn't mean you need to make a career change).

1. Ask the question. This week, ask your spouse or partner, "What's a dream you've never pursued?" Then listen. Just listen, without arguing how practical it is. The "asking" is a small act of love by itself.

2. Name the cost. Every dream worth chasing costs someone something — time, money, stability, sleep. Be honest about what your dreams cost. Pretending there are none is how resentment grows. But resentment grows even stronger if you don't pursue them.

3. Create space for dreams. Don't wait until "things calm down," because they never do. Open up a specific block of time, money, or attention for one or both of you to pursue a dream in the next 12 months.

4. Cheer them on! Tell your spouse and kids that you believe in their dreams. They should never need to wonder. Silence smacks of indifference.

5. Separate the dream from the outcome. Luisa's business didn't go as planned. But the "win" was in the trying. Measure dreams by whether you acted on them, not by whether they paid off. Because many times the pay-off isn't the obvious one.

Adapted from 'Hiding in Plain Sight: 10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage & Family' by Peter Csathy.

• Taryn White is a freelance travel writer and the founder of travel and lifestyle brand The Trip Wish List.
• She's used points to book trips to places like Puerto Rico, Bali, Sydney, Prague, and Johannesburg.
• She shares her strategies for booking with points, including positioning flights and comparing options.

I've been collecting airline miles and credit card points for more than two decades, long before the influx of social media posts promising things like a "free" business-class seat to Europe.

Over the years, I've redeemed points for everything from weekend getaways to Puerto Rico to long-haul international flights to Bali that would have otherwise cost thousands of dollars.

Looking back, I realized that earning points is actually the easy part. The real challenge is knowing how to use them well, and I haven't always been strategic about it.

Here are the three key strategies I've learned that I use to travel the world for less.

1. Build a flexible points ecosystem

Don't put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to miles and points. One of the most important strategies in maximizing travel rewards is to build a flexible "points ecosystem" rather than relying on a single airline, hotel program, or credit card.

My current points ecosystem includes two American Express cards, one Chase card, and one Capital One credit card; co-branded airline and hotel cards for United, Delta, and Marriott; and memberships in dozens of airline, hotel, and rental-car loyalty programs.

Most of my travel credit cards have annual fees, ranging from $150 for my Delta SkyMiles Gold card to $895 for my American Express Business Platinum card. When the value I receive from the benefits — annual travel or hotel credits, free-night certificates, airport lounge access, checked-bag benefits, elite-status perks, and travel protections — exceeds the annual fee, the card earns a place in my points ecosystem.

2. Learn airline and alliance sweet spots

One of the biggest misconceptions about airline miles is that you should use the airline's own miles to book its flights. That's often not true; the exact same seat could actually cost fewer points through another loyalty program.

Many airlines belong to the three major airline alliances — Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam — or have individual partnerships that let members redeem miles for flights operated by partner carriers. The number of miles and taxes or fees required can vary significantly from one loyalty program to another. It's worth checking multiple partners before transferring points or booking an award.

Similarly, I rarely book flights using points directly through credit card travel portals, because they usually operate at a value of one cent per point, and I can often get more value from my points elsewhere.

When searching for award flights, I almost always start with Roame Travel, a platform that compares redemption prices across multiple airline programs. I use a free account, which is more limited in search functions than their paid subscriptions, but it works for my needs.

For example, for Star Alliance flights, I check programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and All Nippon Airways Mileage Club. I also keep an eye on Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club because both frequently offer excellent partner award opportunities as well as awards on their own flights.

That strategy paid off while planning a trip to Africa in January this year. I transferred Amex points to Virgin Atlantic to book a one-way flight from Washington Dulles to Johannesburg for only 13,500 points, plus $229.40 in taxes and fees. It was the lowest cost long-haul redemption I've ever booked.

It also required far fewer points than a credit card travel portal would have charged; the same one-way flight would've likely cost around $1,000, or 100,000 points if booked through a credit card travel portal such as American Express Travel.

3. Don't be afraid of positioning flights

Many travelers search only for flights flying out of their home airport or exact departure city. Sometimes, though, booking a flight to a different airport — positioning to another city — means a better fare or cheaper award redemption. From there, you can use a budget carrier, train, or car to reach your final destination.

I've built entire vacations around positioning flights. Rather than a hassle, I see them as an opportunity to experience multiple destinations on a single trip.

On a family trip to Europe three years ago, I wanted to visit Croatia and Montenegro, but there wasn't any award availability for our preferred range of dates. Instead, I booked four one-way tickets on Lufthansa Airlines to Prague using 122,000 Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer miles and $1,148.00 in taxes and fees. We spent three days in Prague before road-tripping through Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Montenegro.

For the return journey, I booked our flights home from Heathrow because I found four economy tickets for only 98,000 Flying Blue miles and $804 in taxes and fees. We flew from Dubrovnik to London on a separate low-cost carrier the day before our flight home, turning the connection into a mini getaway in London, where I redeemed hotel points for a one-night stay.

Positioning flights require extra planning. Because the flights are booked separately, I always leave a generous buffer between them in case of delays or cancellations.

It's important to approach travel rewards wisely

Travel rewards credit cards can be incredibly valuable, but only when used responsibly. Always pay the balance in full every month — otherwise, the interest racked up on credit card debt can quickly outweigh the value of any points or miles you've earned. I've never viewed points as a reason to spend more. If I can't pay for a purchase immediately, I don't make it. The rewards are an added benefit, not the goal.

I've also learned not to chase every welcome bonus by churning credit cards, which is the practice of opening and closing credit cards for the purpose of getting lucrative sign-up bonuses given to new accounts. Sign-up offers can be valuable, but they work best when they align naturally with purchases you were already planning to make.

Today, my philosophy is simple: Earn points strategically, redeem them when they help me take a trip I really want to take, and don't obsess over squeezing every last fraction of a cent out of every redemption. The best use of miles isn't necessarily the one that produces the highest spreadsheet value; it's the one that gets you on the plane, lets you experience another part of the world, and leaves more money in your bank account for the next adventure.