Success Principle #16 Pay the Price
- Daniel Cole
- Jul 6, 2015
- 4 min read
Success is the greatest deterrent for sexism and racism. Failure is neither an African nor a Briton. Every price a man refuses to pay today will be paid tomorrow with interest. For every prize there is a price. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Behind every great achievement is a story of education, training, practice, discipline and sacrifice. You have to be willing to pay the price. Zig Ziglar once said, “Even a dummy can succeed if he knows what it takes.” However, I think many know what it takes but they are not willing to give all it takes. Champions are not raised overnight. They are always a product of constant practice, training and persistency.
Michelangelo, the Renaissance sculptor and painter who spent 4 years painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel once said “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.” We all desire greatness, we all talked about it, we all wish for it and we all aspire for it, but only a few get it. Why, because not everybody is willing to pay the full price for greatness.
The price to pay differs for every individual. If the price you need to pay for a greater height is leaving your current environment, please leave! It is dangerous to stay in a place when the season is over. To some their price can be;
Going for more personal and professional courses in their field of study
Delegating some activities to have quality time with families.
Quitting a job
Learning a new language
Learning how to drive
Giving up some sleep for studies
Being discipline with your budget to avoid impulse-buy
Taking personal responsibility for one’s life
Writing proposals to companies
And to others the price can be
Letting go of past hurts and pains.
Avoiding emotional attachment or
Proper management of time
The book by Malcolm Gladwell (2008), Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell assert that a 10,000 hour of study and practice is one of the key requirements for anybody who intends to be at the top of his career or the most sought after in any field. Brain Tracy once said “For me to remain at the top, I have to keep myself informed. So therefore, I read 3 hours everyday, even at 71” If studying extra hours is the price needed to get your desired result, be disciplined enough to pay it. The more you know the more command you control. Exposure is the price for exploit, destiny anchors on knowledge. The more you know, the more exploit you command. Your work is what determines your worth, not what people think about you.
No university teaches her student how to found a university, if you dream of founding one it is your responsibility to learn how the founders founded theirs. David Oyedepo once said “I read 39 biographies on successful universities before founding mine.”
To gain a new skill or get better at anything you want to do, you have to be willing to keep on going in the face of looking foolish or feeling stupid for a time. Everybody who gains mastery at anything was once a rookie.
Don’t count on talent alone, because talent is never enough. Stephen King once wrote “Talent is cheaper than table salt, what separates the talented individuals from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” One truth I learnt about talent earlier in my life is this: Talent - Training - Trading = Trash, but Talent + Training + Trading = Treasure. What’s the value of your talent when it is not traded? How can you know how to trade it if you don’t undergo any training? Talent only becomes profitable when it is traded. It is not just enough to be creative, eloquent or brilliant. You must know how to turn your eloquence, creativity and brilliancy into profit. Be disciplined enough to pay the price for your training to reap the benefits of your inherent gifts.
One of the controversial questions on the subject of leadership is whether ‘great leaders are born or raised’, are some people born naturally to be great at anything? In my opinion, nobody is born great at anything. Whosoever attains greatness has consciously or unconsciously paid the price. We all have the potential to be great. We all have the seed of greatness in us, but it is our responsibility to nurture, grow and develop this seed. Even Jesus Christ as great as he is, took it upon himself to learn from the rabbi at a tender age.
His learning developed the leadership seed in him and prepared him for the task ahead. Which makes me propound a theory, “That if the first Adam had also been opportune to undergo the same tutelage, training or mentor-ship the second Adam (Jesus) undergo, it would have been easier for him to prepare his responses when the devil comes knocking in the garden. But unfortunately, he was standing there clueless on what to say while the woman does the talking.” It’s a theory though.
The point is, there is always a price to pay for every greatness. It is important to clearly understand what price you are paying. Until you know what the price is, you can’t choose to pay it. You might want to make a list of several people who have already done what you want to do and interview them about what sacrifices they had to make along the way.
You may discover some costs are more than you want to pay. You may not want to risk your health, your relationships, or your entire life savings for a certain goal. You have to weigh all the factors. That dream job may not be worth your marriage, your kids, or a lack of balance in your life. You cannot build anything successful if you are surrounded by ignorant people. Only you can decide what is right for you and what price you are willing to pay.
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