What are you willing to sacrifice for the things you want?

It takes a lot of effort and sacrifice to reach the next level of success.

A lot of us take it easy on ourselves. We say, “I did enough for today.” When really, we just did the bare minimum.

If you set ambitious goals, you’re going to have to work a lot harder than you currently are. So the question becomes, are you OK with good enough? Or do you want spectacular? Do you want extraordinary?

If you’re reading this, that means you have access to the Internet. Maybe you’re reading it from a smart phone, a laptop, or a tablet. But relatively speaking, you’ve “made it.” You’re better off than so many other people in the world already in terms of finances. You likely live in a first world country. You likely don’t have any major concerns regarding food, water, or shelter. Life for you as it currently is should be considered “good enough.”

But do you want more, and if so, what are you willing to do for it? So many people want something. They desire it, but only if it falls into their lap. They want it to happen, but they aren’t willing to do what it takes to get what they want.

Only you can decide how badly you want something. If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. You can set time aside to work towards it. Sometimes that will mean waking up early or staying up late, sometimes that will mean refraining from buying something, sometimes that will mean reading instead of watching tv, but almost always, there will be a sacrifice that needs to be made if you don’t want to coast through life for “good enough.” Now it’s just a matter of reminding yourself how important your goal is and determining if the sacrifice is still worth it.

Setting easy and hard goals

It’s only a partial truth when you hear the saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Because the alternative to that is that something could beat you down and wear you out, and if you don’t allow yourself to recover before the next defeat, you’re only going to see a decrease in performance. Too many harsh defeats in a row could decrease your confidence, and instead of making you stronger, it weakens your resolve.

Practice balancing between setting hard to achieve, but still realistic goals and getting some quick wins under your belt (to build momentum and confidence). When you do go for something and fail, prioritize learning from your mistakes and recovering from failures. Just make sure that A) you’re not aiming too low just to avoid the feeling of pain/loss; and B) you have regular stretch goals that are realistic, but definitely not guaranteed.

How to get lucky

You can’t expect to win a jackpot if you put no money on the line. You have to risk something to win a truly large reward. You can wish all that you want, but it won’t matter. As Michael Jordan said, “some people want things to happen, others make things happen.” It won’t happen unless you take action. The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.