“Can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” was purportedly said by US president Truman to the moaners in his team. The phrase essentially means if you can’t cope and don’t want something bad enough – get out and stop bothering and distracting the people who do want it. Success and achievement often comes with sacrifice and endurance.
So many people want success without wanting to pay the price. They moan about:
- The little things
- How badly people treat them
- The hardships
- The rejections
- The amount of admin
- Their bosses
- The sacrifices
- The lousy people who work for them
- The risks
Every prize comes with a price
A problem that new entrepreneurs have to deal with is that they are so used to listening to motivational speakers who talk about the end goals. We like to focus on the prize (the financial freedom, the fame, the accolades) at the end because it is motivational, but so many want this prize without knowing that it comes with a price.
How many people would come to a talk if they were going to hear about the betrayals, the sacrifices, the risks, the hard work, and the constant networking? None of these words sound much like fun to anyone. Fun is great but……when striving to reach a goal, it isn’t all fun. You can’t just pick and choose the nice bits. To be successful you have to have all of it.
If you want to be good at anything it is going to cost you. It is going to cost you in terms of time, resources, uncertainty, and finance.
How much punishment can you take?
So think about it. How much do you really want success? What “shit” are you willing to take to get there. For some that “shit” is:
- Getting up at 5:00am for three years
- Giving up watching TV
- Extra administration and being having to be thorough in the administration
- Having to control your emotions,
- Giving up certain friends
- Having to lose constantly
- Being mocked and laughed at
- Being misjudged
As a parent, I was constantly misjudged for some of my parenting techniques. Today, people often want to know what I did to help my kids become so independent at such an early age. To get to certain levels in teaching and business, I had to endure a certain amount of intellectual bullying and backbiting.
I frequently had to miss out on social gatherings to become a respected writer and instructor. As I was moving through the ranks, I had to bite my tongue and duck and dodge a director who wanted to be CEO at the expense of other directors. To be able to change my mindset and grow beyond the confining thinking of elements of my family, I had to leave them and sleep on a floor with seven others for several years.
However, I wanted to grow and expand in my knowledge. In my work I was prepared to make those sacrifices and take the “shit”, whilst I grew in stature and ability.
And don’t think that just because you become successful the “shit” will go away. As you become more and more successful, your “shit” will change. Today, I have to deal with envy, gossip, fake excuses and criticism from “friends.” However you have to love it. It is there to help you grow spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, socially, physically.
The more I grow in this life and acquire new abilities, the more I realise the depth and the meaning of the phrase “no pain no gain.”
Can you stand the heat?
How much pain are you willing to take to achieve your goals? What is your pain?
- How many days in a week are you willing to work to achieve your goal?
- How many hours per day are you willing to work to achieve your goal?
- How many days off are essential to you?
- What are you prepared to do to lose weight and keep that weight off?
- What friends are you prepared to lose to change your mindset?
If you can keep your end goal in sight, your pain transforms into a fanbase of supporters shouting you on to reach the finish line.
Until then live long and prosper, oh and don’t be lazy! Leave us a comment in the section below. We love to hear the tips and insights from our readers.
In the goal setting series so far:
- Essential Guide to Goal Setting 1: Brain Dump and goal types
- Essential Guide to Goal Setting 2: Long term goals
- Essential Guide to Goal Setting 3: Chunking down
- Five techniques to stay focused
Other articles readers have enjoyed
- Never Give Up – A short story from my property journey
- Nine reasons why losing my job was awesome
- Why being busy is a waste of time
- How to create your perfect to do list
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