The one hard truth about success I finally accepted.
You can do anything, but not everything. So choose wisely.
In my 20s I had a lot of dreams. I believed I was going to be successful and get everything I wanted in life. I was young, naive, and full of optimism.
Older friends and family would try to temper my blinding self-belief. Their advice and opinions felt like a boot on the neck of my future. “They’re just bitter,” I thought to myself. “Because they gave up. I won’t turn out like them.”
There will always be negative people who try to hold you back because of their own insecurities and worldviews. But there are also those people who know from experience that life’s about more than dreams. It’s about doing what it takes to make those dreams a reality. A process that can be incredibly rewarding, and downright miserable all at the same time.
That twenty-something year old version of myself didn’t understand the simple truth. That time is a finite resource and we are running out of it every day. Second-by-second it escapes us.
…time is a finite resource and we are running out of it every day.
I don’t mean to be such a pessimist. It’s just the truth and the truth is often difficult to swallow.
Eventually I realized that anything is possible in life, but there’s not enough time to do everything. We must choose how we will spend our valuable time. We must decide how to invest our time to create success. How do you even define what success means to you?
The Price Of Opportunity
Opportunity cost is what you have to give up to get something else. It’s the price you pay in one area of life to achieve success in another.
- Stay at home parents give up years of their career to raise their children.
- Olympic athletes give up partying and hanging out with friends to train for the opportunity to be the best in the world.
- Celebrities give up their privacy and the ability to walk down the street in peace for the opportunity to be famous.
No matter what you desire in life there will always be a cost to achieving it.
Accepting this truth is a process. There’s a part of us that will always believe that we are different. That somehow we will be the one to figure out how to have it all. We believe it’s our destiny. Unfortunately, so does everyone else.
There’s a part of us that will always believe that we are different. That somehow we will be the one to figure out how to have it all. We believe it’s our destiny. Unfortunately, so does everyone else.
I struggled with this for years. I think a lot of people do. No one wants to accept that they are not special. No one wants to believe that their life isn’t meant for greatness.
But what if the truth is somewhere in the middle? What if we can understand that life is about choices and we can choose to do great things?
What would be the cost of making this choice?
What would you be willing to give up to live the life of your dreams?
Choosing what areas of life to focus on is never easy. You must define what a successful life means for you.
How Do You Define Success?
Only you can answer this question. I can’t give you a success formula and anyone who says they can is lying. It’s something you’re going to have to decide for yourself.
For some people success is about money and fame. For others it’s about family and community. I don’t know what happiness and success means to you. I can offer some ideas to discover it on your own.
- Open yourself up to new ideas and experiences.
- Look for opportunities to challenge your old habits and beliefs.
- Don’t be afraid to look foolish or act silly.
- Really listen to people when they talk and try to see what is important to them.
- Ask questions.
- Keep a journal of what inspires you.
Action is the foundational key to all success. ~ Pablo Picasso
How To Create Meaning In Your Life.
The meaning in your life will be shaped by the experiences you have. It’s something that happens along the way, not something that you can plan in advance. It’s in the relationships you build, the lives you touch, and the lessons you learn.
Meaning is like water, always moving, always changing shape. It has the power to carve stone and move mountains. It can be a source of life, or a means of destruction. Only you can decide how it will shape your life.
