Pay the Price, Get the Prize

PAY THE PRICE, GET THE PRIZE

We all do eventually. I mean pay the price for where we really are going in life. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the things we do or don’t do every day add up to define the destination that we end up in.

A wise man once said, “If a man does not know where he is going, everywhere looks like it.”

To achieve greatness in life, I have discovered, is actively predetermined while to be just another person on earth is a product of just living everyday as it comes, and countless there be that live that way.

It’s amazing to see envy and jealousy at work in people who do nothing about achieving the success in people they envy. What they do rather is see the evil that those people have done that brought them what they have. While it is undeniable that some people have skeletons in their cupboards, is it every success that is founded on evil?

People who achieve greatness see in others what they desire for themselves, and they set out to do those things that will bring them their own success, and do they succeed? You bet.

The price we must pay differ from person to person, for a number of factors. Some people have backgrounds that make their ride through life easier than others. Some live in an environment that provides both technical and mental structure for success than other environments, and so on, but supreme of all is the WILL to succeed, and I do not know of anyone who truly succeeded that didn’t have the will.

Research shows that more than 65% of the wealthiest people on earth had no wealth bequeathed to them. In other words, they worked from the ground up. They created their own success by themselves. It sure took them years, but their WILL prevailed.

Handle Failure Rightly

There is no one who succeeded who didn’t fail. Failure seems to be the first step on the success ladder. Now if that is what you are afraid of, you may have to have a rethink because, there is no success without some failure. I learnt of how Donald Trump was once bankrupt,  Mike Adenuga lost $20m bidding for telecom license, Albert Einstein watched his factory burnt to ashes, I guess you can add other examples. The most important thing about success is getting up from a fall and not remaining at the point where you fell, and we all fall every once in a while.

So when you look at successful people today in your country, city or anywhere for that matter, know that some of them have been through a lot, but they succeeded regardless. Their fall was part of the price they needed to pay to succeed.

Much as I would have loved to drive this discuss in different directions, I choose rather to focus on you. What should you do from where you are to become the success you see in others?

1.     Discover thyself

You are you. That kind of sums up my intention here. Who you see others become may be totally different from who you are supposed to become. The first card you must play is that of self-discovery. Who are you? Where is your destination in life? Why are you here on earth? Don’t forget that knowing yourself will help you in the direction you are headed, and for a man that is going nowhere, he will without fail get there.

Further, if you know yourself well enough, you will be better able to determine the extent of price or sacrifice you must make to get the success you desire. Sacrifices are not palatable. I do not know of anyone who does make sacrifices without feeling the pinch.

2.     Develop thyself

This is the sacrifice itself. This is where the midnight candle is burnt, the visits are made even when no tangible results are recorded. This is the point at which you want to take advantage of every window of opportunity that comes your way, as far as there is a slim chance of you adding something that you didn’t have before. Oh sacrifice! Read, listen, learn, get mentored, serve, etc., these are the key words here. I hope you put them to use for your benefit.

3.     Deploy thyself

When all is said and done, there is a time to launch out. No one has ever been truly fully prepared as it were, we just do things. If you are waiting for a time when situations are perfectly perfect, news for you: there is no such time. Just do it. Some of the greatest inventions the world has ever known, and the greatest breakthroughs were performed when people dared to do those things rather than when it was obviously perfect to do it. By the way, have you not heard of perfect conditions going awry? Ask Titanic.

Put yourself to use, it will amaze you who you’ll become.

Start paying the price to become who you have always wanted to be, and prayer for you: you will become that person.

See you.