To succeed, you should know!
What Success Demands
No matter what goals or ambitions you might have, there is one thing certain: There is a price you must pay to get what you want in life. In fact, there’s no sidestepping the fact that any type of success you would like to attain demands something from you — it demands that you do certain things in order to get what you want. It’s simply the way life works, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do to avoid it.
Let’s take a closer look at exactly what success in any field of endeavor may demand from you:
Success Demands You Show No Fear
Fear is something that is likely to consistently hold you back from your desired objectives. Success demands that you overcome your fears and develop the necessary courage you need to pursue your goals with vigor, passion and zest.
You must successfully strive to overcome, or at the very least successfully manage the fear of uncertainty, the fear of failure, the fear of getting rejected or criticized, the fear of making mistakes, the fear of change, and even the fear of hard work. These are all common fears that hold people back from the life they want to live. However, they can’t hold you back, because success demands that you have no fear, and if you want to achieve any kind of success in your life, then this is something you must successfully work through.
Success Demands Unwavering Commitment
When you are fully committed to something, nothing will sidetrack you. It doesn’t matter whether or not the sun comes up tomorrow, or whether or not the earth stops spinning on its axis. Okay, well maybe these are far-fetched examples, however I hope you get the point. It’s important that you are fully committed to your endeavors without allowing things to pull you off track.
Don’t just commit to your goal. That’s not enough. Success demands far more than that. What success demands from you is that you fully commit to being extraordinary, to being courageous, to being disciplined, and to being accountable for your decisions and actions. Success also demands that you have an unwavering commitment to excellence, a commitment to persevere despite the inevitable setbacks that life will throw your way, and that you are committed to take consistent action daily towards your objectives.
It’s the dedication you show on a daily basis towards your desired outcomes that will make all the difference in the end.
Success Demands Believing that Failure is Not an Option
Success in anything you do is riddled with problems, mistakes and the inevitable failure. These things are unavoidable. You will face these circumstances sooner or later along your journey. However, it’s not the circumstances that matter, it’s rather what you believe about these circumstances that makes all the difference in the end.
You must believe that no matter what happens — no matter how badly you fail and how horrible this might make you feel — that failure is never an option. Success demands that you pick yourself up after a failure or mistake and try once again. Yes, change your strategy and do something a little (or a lot) different, however you must keep going — just keep moving forward with passion and a strong sense of purpose that no matter what you will eventually get to your ultimate destination.
Success Demands You Make No Excuses
Excuses are for those people who live with constant regret about the things that they could have, should have or would have done if… These people never achieve their desired long-term outcomes because their excuses get in the way and prevent them from taking advantage of the opportunities that problems present them with.
Success demands that you take full responsibility for everything that happens to you without blaming others or blaming external events or seemingly uncontrollable circumstances for your problems. You are responsible for your decisions and actions, and as a result you never make any excuses, fully understanding that excuses only lead to further problems — they most certainly never help you solve them.
Success Demands You Make Difficult Choices
As you make progress along your journey towards your desired outcomes, success will demand that you make difficult choices about what you will do and about what you won’t do. It demands that you choose what you will and won’t sacrifice. It demands that you decide what’s the most important thing to focus on at any one time. Success demands that you choose who you will spend your time with, keeping in mind that the people you spend most time with could either help or hinder your progress.
Most importantly success demands that you make difficult daily choices about how you spend your time, energy and money. You must consistently invest your energy into meaningful tasks and goal congruent activities that will provide you with the highest long-term benefits. Spending your time on the wrong things could very well spell the difference between success and failure.
Success Requires Sacrifice
The goals and objectives you have in mind will not magically manifest in your life. You will need to work hard and potentially make some drastic sacrifices along the way.
Success requires some kind of sacrifice. You will not gain something for nothing. That’s not how the world works, and it’s therefore certainly not something you can bank on. If you’re not willing to make the necessary sacrifices to attain your goals and objectives, then you will fail to create the momentum you need to get your desired outcomes.
Anything you want in your life is essentially unattainable. It’s unattainable if you do not give something up in order to get something back. Giving something up could come in the form of your time, energy or money. You might need to sacrifice one of these things, or maybe a combination of these things in order to get what you want.
Here are some sacrifices you might need to make along your journey:
Sacrificing Who You Are
One of the biggest and most profound sacrifices you might undoubtedly need to make along your journey is changing who you are for whom you desire to become — for whom your “goal” needs you to become.
The end goal you have in mind requires that you shift how you think, what you believe, the habits you indulge in, and maybe even the values you live by. In fact, it’s very possible that you might need to become a very different person than the person you are today in order to have this goal in your life. And if you’re unable, or simply unwilling to make these sacrifices/changes, then it’s likely that the goal you desire will always be out of reach. Ask yourself:
What beliefs must I sacrifice to attain this goal?
What beliefs could actually prevent me from having this goal?
What habits and rituals must I sacrifice to attain this goal?
What habits could actually sabotage me from attaining my desired outcome?
What values might I need to shift in order to have this goal?
What does this goal demand that I change about myself?
How will I make the necessary changes?
You need to be willing to sacrifice the person you are today (without this goal) for the person you will be tomorrow (with this goal). These two people are not the same. And if you don’t believe that, then you will soon find out the hard way that life only gives you something of value when you are willing to grow into this new experience on a personal level. This means changing who you are for who you need to become to ultimately deserve having this goal in your life.
Giving Up Something Good to Get Something Better
Attaining your desired outcome might mean that you give up something that feels comfortable, secure and safe in the moment for something that is better long-term. This comes back to the instant gratification trap. Many people are simply not willing to give up their short-term pleasures for higher level long-term pleasures. They are lost in the moment and simply unable to bear through periods of short-term pain that they must get through in order to experience ultimate pleasure in the future.
If you’re serious about attaining your desired objectives, then you must be willing to let go of the small pleasures found in the moment that might very well distract and sabotage you from living the ultimate long-term pleasures that you will experience once your goal has been achieved.
Eliminating Distracting Activities
Your success is dependent on your commitment to eliminate all the distracting activities that could potentially sidetrack you from your ultimate destination. These are essentially the things that you indulge in on a daily basis that make you feel good, but aren’t good for you. These are your guilty pleasures such as mindlessly surfing the internet, playing video games or watching television shows and movies. All these things may feel good in the moment, however long-term they will only delay what you really want most out of life.
Paying the Price in Full
The moment you commit yourself towards the pursuit of a specific goal is the moment you must also commit yourself to the price you will need to pay to attain this goal.
Your goal always comes with strings attached. You simply cannot have your goal without making some necessary physical, financial, emotional, mental, and social sacrifices.
Have a think about your goal and also have a good hard think about the potential sacrifices you might need to make in specific areas of your life to help bring this goal to fruition. Who knows, you might even come to the realization that this goal you want so badly just doesn’t seem worth the effort. Because if you’re not willing to make the necessary sacrifices, then you shouldn’t be spending your time pursuing this goal. Spend your time instead on other areas that will provide you with a greater return on your time.
Letting Go of Conflicts
Sometimes you will make all these sacrifices to create room to achieve your goal, but you still don’t seem to be moving forward as quickly as you had imagined. This is very typical and it often results from a number of conflicts you have in your life that on the surface may not seem as though they are conflicting with your goal.
First and most importantly, conflicts may arise when you have conflicting goals. You might in fact have other goals that you are working towards that are competing for your time, energy and money. You are essentially spreading yourself too thin and as a result you don’t have the laser focus required to create the momentum you need to get things done.
Have a think in particular about all the small and medium sized goals that you are consciously and unconsciously working towards. These could be the goals that are sabotaging you from moving forward. You must decide today that you will either change them or eliminate them altogether. There’s no point holding onto these goals if they will keep you from reaching your ultimate destination.
As with conflicting goals, also have a think about any conflicting responsibilities and commitments that you might have. These are the things that are taking up your time and resources that you could instead be giving to your main objective. Cut these things from your life, and you will suddenly find yourself freed up to focus on the most important things in life.
Conflicts can also come in the form of destructive relationships. These are often the people who do not support you or your goals. At other times though, they can actually be the people who support you, however they continue to sabotage you by distracting you from your highest priority activities. Let these relationships go if you can. There is no point holding onto your past if it doesn’t serve your future.
Gaining Proper Perspective
When it comes to making the necessary sacrifices to achieve your goals, it’s critical to gain the proper perspective about what it means to be successful.
There Are No Shortcuts
There are often no shortcuts to success. The only shortcuts to success come from your experience. Once you know what to do and how to do it, you will be much more capable at getting things done the fastest way possible. However, this takes time, and success essentially comes down to your ability to use time effectively. This requires that you focus on the right things, at the right time, in the right way and spend just the right amount of time on them. It’s as simple as that, however it’s not simple. It’s hard work, and it takes a lot of effort and experience to get things to this stage.
Are you willing to make the necessary sacrifices to eventually get thing to this stage?
Most People Are Not Willing to Sacrifice
The reality of the matter is that most people are simply not willing to make the necessary sacrifices or to pay the ultimate price for success. This is either good or bad news for you. It’s bad news if you’re actually one of these people and not willing to make these sacrifices, however it’s good news if you’re not one of these people because it means that you already have the upper-hand just from the fact that you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to attain your goals and objectives.
Anything Worthwhile Takes Hard Work
Anything that is worthwhile achieving in this world takes dedication and hard work. It requires considerable effort, thought and time invested in performing tasks and in acquiring the necessary knowledge, skills, resources and experience that will help you to ultimately attain your desired outcomes.
The Consequences of Making No Sacrifices
One sure sign that indicates you have not made adequate sacrifices for your goals is the fact that you continue to sabotage your efforts on a regular basis. This self-sabotage might come in the form of being too busy, indulging in procrastination and perfectionism, being constantly distracted with other activities, not willing to give up certain responsibilities and/or commitments, making excuses, etc. All these things are now manifesting in your life as regret and stagnation.
The most important takeaway from this is that your dreams will remain unfulfilled and that your life will change very little until you begin taking responsibility for yourself and commit to making the necessary sacrifices that will change your life for the better. Everything ultimately has a price, and you must pay it. If you don’t, then you will pay it another way by missing out on what you most want out of life.
Paying the Ultimate Price
It’s time for you to commit one way or another. You must make up your mind whether or not you are willing and able to commit and pay the ultimate price for success — the ultimate price to attain your goals and objectives. The decision is yours to make, however it’s a decision that should not be made lightly. Sacrificing is never an easy thing to do. It must make sense for you, and must provide you with long-term benefits that far outweigh the short-term sacrifices you will ultimately need to make. Here are a few guidelines that will hopefully help provide you with some clarify:
Step One: Clarify What You Want
First of all, before deciding what you will sacrifice, it’s important to clarify what exactly you would like to achieve. Ask yourself:
What do I want?
Why do I want this?
How badly do I really want this?
The more reasons you have for wanting something, the more sacrifices you are likely to make.
Step Two: Clarify Action Steps
In order to determine what you will need to sacrifice, you must first become familiar with the action steps you might need to take along your journey. Ask yourself:
What will I need to do to attain this goal?
What specifically do I need to attain this goal?
Do I need specific knowledge, skills, tools and resources?
Have a think through these questions and take a little time to draw up your plan of action moving forward.
Step Three: Consider Impact of Goal
Take time to consider the impact that the process of achieving this goal will have on your life. Ask yourself:
How will the process of achieving this goal impact my life?
How could it potentially impact many different areas of my life?
How could it impact my relationships with others?
What potential conflicts may arise?
Take into consideration the impact it will have on you emotionally, financially and socially. Think about how it will impact your habits and routines, your priorities, your personal time, and maybe even other goals that you are working towards. And ultimately search for potential conflicts that may arise as a result.
Step Four: Consider Possible Changes
Based on the conflicts you identified within the previous step, take some time to outline the kinds of changes that you might need to make to your life in order to minimize or eliminate these conflicts altogether. Ask yourself:
How must my life change in order to make room for this goal?
How must I change as a person in order to make room for this goal?
Changes must happen in two significant ways. You must first look at ways you can change your life, and secondly at ways you must change yourself. If you neglect any one of these areas, then it’s likely conflicts will continue to exist, and as a result you will continue to sabotage yourself and fail to meet your long-term expectations.
Step Five: Make the Necessary Sacrifices
Having clarity about what it is you want, about how you will get there, about the impact that these goals will have on your life, and about the possible changes that you must now make, hopefully brings some insight into the kinds of sacrifices that you will ultimately need to make to attain your desired outcome. Ask yourself:
What specifically must I sacrifice to achieve my goal?
What will be the impact of these sacrifices on my life?
Will these sacrifices be enough?
Who could shed some light on this?
Asking other people for their insights and perspectives could help shed some light on the kinds of sacrifices that they for instance needed to make in similar situations. This can help you to cover all bases — making sure that you have taken everything under consideration before committing to this goal.
Finally, the ultimate question is:
Am I willing to make these sacrifices to obtain this goal?
If the answer is YES, then also consider:
What if things take much longer then expected?
What if things are much harder then expected?
Given this, will I still be willing and able to make the necessary sacrifices long-term?
Sometimes while deciding to make sacrifices it’s easy to look at the short-term and ignore the long-term scenarios. Maybe you will achieve your goal quickly and it will be worth it. However, just maybe it will take you far longer than expected and as a result you will need to sacrifice far more than you imagined. If you fail to consider this scenarios, then you will fail to make the long-term changes necessary to create space for this goal in your life.
In the end, if you are not willing and able to make the necessary sacrifices to attain your goal, then either change your goal or dump your goal. There is no point pursuing something you will ultimately not be able to achieve. Yes of course, the journey is important. However, you will probably be better off spending your time focusing on other areas that will bring you greater rewards long-term.
