Nothing in life makes more of a difference between mediocrity and attaining our fullest potential than the choices we make when we are at the crossroads of life.
At every major turn in life, we are required to make decisions or trade-offs which will determine how our futures turn out.
However, there’s one thing you need to know if you want to achieve success and personal growth. It has nothing to do with the education you may need, the skills you must learn or the resources you have to pull through.
It has to do with you deciding what you’re willing to give up, to achieve the success you desire.
We all want to succeed. For those who have tried and failed, success might seem elusive. Why is it one person is successful where someone else fails? Could it be certain mindsets they have that give them an edge?
Or maybe successful people have developed certain habits the rest of us are yet to stumble upon.
For most people, success means adding something to their lives. Whether that is a new job, a new spouse, more happiness, or more money; it’s all about addition. But they fail to realize that, if you want to add something to your life that symbolizes success, then something has to give.
Many seek success; however, few are prepared to make the necessary changes to secure it.
To receive the rich rewards of success, there is ALWAYS a price to be paid.
Are you one who will gladly pay for the success they want? Or are you one of those who want a free ride in life?
People are always talking about what they want.
Motivational speakers talk about following your passion, living your dreams and other clichés like that.
But nobody ever talks about what they’re willing to give up, to turn their aspirations into reality.
Ask someone what they want and you’ll get the usual responses such as:
Get straight A’s
Get married
Be my own boss
Make more money
Better health
More time with loved ones
We’ve been taught how to write out lists of what we want and the things we want to do.
And that’s all good but, everyone does that.
Sure, it matters what you want – but it doesn’t really matter all that much.
Wanting something isn’t enough.
The real question is this:
What are you willing to give up, to get what you want?
Are you willing to invest for the long-term, even if that means making short-term sacrifices?
How Much Are You Willing to Give In Exchange for Success?
The Role Sacrifice Plays In Your Pursuit of Success
Whenever we hear the word sacrifice, we often think of completely selfless deeds in which somebody does something for someone else entirely for the other person’s benefit.
But sacrifice isn’t purely altruistic. ‘’Sacrifice is forfeiting something for something else considered to have a greater value.” Sacrifice does not necessarily imply letting go of something for nothing; it means giving up one thing for something else we believe is worth more.
What do you have to give up? That’s a choice you’ll have to make. You may have to give up hanging out with friends who rather than lift you up, drag you down. You may have to give up TV to have the time to read and study for that exam. You may have to give up sleep to master and perfect your craft. You may have to give up relative comfort in exchange for a life of risk and reward.
To attain something you believe is of greater value, you will need to drop off something you consider of lower value.
The illusion that you can get whatever you want without ever paying for it is an incredibly seductive fallacy.
But it is only a fantasy.
The truth is…there is always a price to pay. You must be willing to do what few others are prepared to do.
All our lives as kids and into adulthood, we’ve been taught that success isn’t easy, but sometimes it’s a lot easier than we think it up to be. One thing about success, though, is that it is never convenient.
That’s why you must be prepared to sacrifice and give up ease and comfort to achieve success.
One of the most important things you’ll have to give up is your old beliefs. If you want to succeed in an area of your life, then you’ll need to change what you presently believe about yourself, especially if that belief is incompatible with the level of life you are aiming for.
As John C. Maxwell says in his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential “When you want something you have never had, you must do something you’ve never done to get it.” Whenever you devote your time and effort to accomplishing new things, something you are doing in the present will have to give or be eliminated.
The bottom line is you may never make progress without giving up something you value in the present. You have to start seeing trade-offs as opportunities for personal growth and development. You can only grow through change, which means giving up something you value in the present for a better future.
It’s not human nature to give up something. We fight harder to keep from losing something than we fight to create something.
Now’s the time for you to break that habit.
You have to embrace the fact that there will always be trade-offs in life, and you can’t have one thing without giving up another.
An athlete must give up time spent with friends and family for time spent honing their talent. The converted religious man must give up old habits for his new found faith. The A student must reduce play time to study for a higher GPA.
Everyone who’s ever achieved real success has had to give something up. They gave up temporary comfort to gain permanent success.
Often, the loss of what we used to value is felt instantly, while the benefit of our pursuit is not noticed until some unspecified time in the future.
That’s not something most people are willing to put themselves through.
Notwithstanding, to grow as an individual to your full potential, you’ll need to keep trading on the things you value.
Henry David Thoreau once said, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” Real success and personal development are never convenient, but if you are going to make progress, you will certainly face letting go of something you value in the interim.
At the end of the day, the most crucial question we need to ask ourselves when evaluating our goals, dreams, and desires, may not be, “What should I do to achieve them?” but “What am I willing to give up?”
So ask yourself:
How Much am I Willing to Give In Exchange for the Success I Desire?
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