***Success Takes A Lot Of Hard Work

Success Takes A Lot Of Hard Work
You Always Have To Pay Full Price For Success
And You Always Have To Pay That Price In Advance.
(Brian Tracy)

Successful People Have Different Attitudes About Hard Work Than Unsuccessful People

What is wrong with a little hard work? The most successful people I know do not even bother to ask themselves this question. Whenever this question gets asked to them, they always answer - nothing is wrong with a little hard work.

Many unsuccessful people, on the other hand, avoid hard work like the plague. All they want to do is earn their paychecks for doing their "job" and they do not want to do anything more than what is expected of them. They do not seem to realize that in order for them to be successful, it is necessary for them to make an investment in that success.

Success Must Be Earned

No matter what job you have, no matter what you are trying to accomplish, the plain simple fact is that unless you are incredibly lucky, no one is going to just hand success over to you. You are going to have to work hard for it and you are going to have to work for your successes before they come to you.

Consequently, one of the major goals of my articles and books is to help you cultivate a willingness to make that investment (i.e., to pay the price for success, IN ADVANCE ).

Analyze Your Past Successes

Think of some of your past successes you have had in life. Either print out this page or take out a blank sheet of paper. Take at least 5 minutes and write them down in the list below. They can be anything YOU like, as long as YOU personally consider it a success.

SUCCESSES:

1. __________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

3. __________________________________________

4. __________________________________________

5. __________________________________________

Now, what did you have to do to accomplish those successes? Was what you did easy, or did it require some hard work? Did you have to do the hard work in advance, or did the success come before the hard work? Write you answer in the space provided below.

1. __________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

3. __________________________________________

4. __________________________________________

5. __________________________________________

If your answers are anything like mine, I strongly suspect your successes were the result of lots of hard work, almost all of which had to be done in advance before the success came your way. Your successes most likely were not simply "strokes of good fortune" that happened to come your way. While there are exceptions to every rule, I am simply trying to suggest to you what Brian Tracy suggested in his quote that opens this chapter:

You Always Have To Pay Full Price For Success
And You Always Have To Pay That Price In Advance.