“In order to receive rich rewards of success there is a price to be paid”
For many of us who don’t come from a wealthy background there is a necessary price to pay for success. The amount of work, skill and sacrifice required to be great at anything in life is enormous. Many of us seek success and/or greatness in various areas of our lives, but few are willing to pay the cost for success. I receive emails almost weekly from people stating that they want to be successful, but aren’t willing to go through the necessary steps to get there. For the most part everyone wants to succeed whether it’s losing weight, being a better parent, learning a new skill, sticking to our New Year Resolution or starting new business. However, for those of us who have tried and failed in the past, success may seem elusive. Something that only the esoteric among us receive and it is unattainable for majority of society. This thought process can be problematic for anyone striving for success, because even thinking or believing that we cannot do something. Automatically puts up unnecessary barriers to stop us from attaining success.
Are you one who will pay, or are you someone who wants a free ride?
Often times in this age of Google where we can literally find out anything we want by typing in some key words. There has come a point in our society were the value of hard work has diminished and the five minutes or less mantra has been implemented. Some would suggest, as a society we have become reliant on technology. Thus, causing many of us displeasure to sacrifice or give anything up to reach our goals. In my experience, I’ve learned that if we are willing to pay the price required to achieve a goal. The feeling we receive is richer than any amount of money we could ever obtain. Contrary to popular belief it’s not about what we’ve achieved, but what we overcame and who helped us along the way.
Greatness comes with a price, to become great in any aspect of our life requires great sacrifice. For example, instead of going out with your friends on a Friday night you decide to work towards your goals. This might not sound significant, but every hour we spend working towards greatness can make all the difference between being great or mediocre. When we’re a kid, most of us believed we could do anything we wanted. Whether we wanted to be a professional athlete, actor, writer or entertainer we believed the possibilities were endless. However, as we grew older fear, doubt or realistic expectations started to creep in. This is when most of us put our dreams to the side and focused on “realistic goals”. Understandable for some especially as we live in a pessimist society where the thought of taking risk can be looked at in such a negative light. Although as we get older studies have shown once we reach 45 years old we’re more likely to take risk. Also in this same study, it stated how people over 45 years of age stated “I wish I would of took more risk when I was younger”. This was somewhat surprising to me, because when I was growing up all I heard from many adults was “work hard and think realistic, because life is hard”.
Final Thoughts
In our hyper-materialistic culture, it is easy to view success or greatness in pessimist outlook, because many times society only values success when you earn a large substantial amount of money. Although, having money is great and can be a goal for us. It shouldn’t be the only value we put on success. As I’ve learned after writing articles such as “How Do You Define Success”. Everyone’s opinion is different, but one thing we all can agree on is in the end we all want to be happy. What have you had to sacrifice in your life to reach a goal? Comment below & if you liked this post please share!
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand”
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Words so well written and illustrated. Success is work, plain and simple and with it there is a cost. As I walked and ran along my career path I learned that for everything we gain we give up something. It is as said “spending” time. Time is precious and we must always count the cost.
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Very true like the cliche says “Time is money”. This is truly apparent when striving for success. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
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Very well expressed. How much richer one would be if they were willing to work rather than whine that they don’t have the same breaks a person of means might have. How much more impressive is it to have your willingness to work hard be part of your resume.
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Great insight we have to work hard to attain most levels of success!
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Great article!
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Thank you!
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You are quite welcome.
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It is great to read your post …you say it like it is! Willingness to show up for what you wish …this has to become a consistent practice …easier said than done and that is what makes the difference!
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Very true you have to be consistent for what you want. Thanks for reading!
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I’ve sacrificed many phony relationships, partying, my own time for play and entertainment, and sleep. My heart is so ravenous and determined that I refuse not to be known as the blasian legend.
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That’s a great mindset to have. That’s usually what it takes to reach success.
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I want it so bad I can taste it.
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Excellent post! Without all the effort and focus, social mobility becomes just an impossible dream.
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Exactly great point. Thanks for sharing!
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Hmmmm!
There is no cost to success, only the rewards of success. Success is being well-balanced in the things that matter in life. Even Warren Buffett learned that it was not all about the money, and then he began to live the good life.
Work hard, play harder, nice blog…
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Great insight thanks for sharing!
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I can remember when my husband was working a full time Air Force job which was always 12 hour shifts, going to school at night, fitting in homework and trying to sleep and spend time with all of us. It was a sacrifice on all our parts. In the end it was all worth it.
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You hit the nail on the head, Jay. We’re a microwave culture that wants instant gratification. Because of various types of personal outsourcing (hiring handymen for everything), we’ve forgotten what satisfaction comes from doing things for ourselves. I don’t know if we’ll move back to that any time soon.
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