What Success Demands From You…
No matter what goals or aspirations 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 is no avoiding the fact that any type of success demands something 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 everything you have. 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 Commitment
When you are fully committed to something, nothing will get in your way. 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 taking 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 dealing with problems, mistakes, and the inevitable failure. These things are unavoidable. You will face these circumstances sooner or later on 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 the 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 happen 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.
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 no progress. 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 for Success
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.
Step 1: 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.
Step 2: 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:
Step 3: Consider Impact of Goal
Take time to consider the impact that the process of achieving this goal will have on your life.
Step 4: 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.
Step 5: 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.
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 these 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 reward. In relationships it is different because you don’t have the ability sacrifice for the other person, however when both people are willing to sacrifice the greatest relationship success of all can be achieved.