Success does come with a cost

Do you know what the cost of success is?

There are 7 things:

1. LATE NIGHTS

You are going to find that people are going to go home a lot earlier than you. It might be tempting to go with them but just think that another hour of intensive work might allow you to get that breakthrough, to get that idea that is going to allow to get to that next level. Don't finish at 5 or don't finish at 6, put in that extra time and you will notice the difference sooner rather than later.


2. EARLY MORNINGS

For me recently, getting up early and going to the gym has been the best way to use my morning. Sometimes I do feel half asleep and I don't really wake up until mid way through the workout but I believe that it is better to do that than sit at the desk and try not to fall asleep. For other ideas, have a look at this.


3. VERY FEW FRIENDS

I have few friends anyway but they are all very loyal and all have my best interests at heart as I with them. When you start turning down invitations because you have to work or you have some project on the go, this can be very detrimental to your social life and some friends just might not understand your lifestyle and do you know what, that is OK. They aren't true friends anyway. If they were true friends they would support both who you are as a person and what you are trying to achieve.


4. BEING MISUNDERSTOOD

Yes, this is a big one. People are not going to understand what you are trying to do. They will see you waking up early and going to bed late. They will see you working 7 days a week. They will see you spending time on your project on Friday and Saturday nights. People will wonder why because to them Friday and Saturday nights are a chance to go and drink as much as possible. Stick to your guns. Be confident in what you want to achieve and don't lose your focus.


5. FEELING OVERWHELMED

Sometimes it will feel like it is never-ending but as the great Winston Churchill said,

"If you are going through hell, keep going."

I think this is good advice because the good news might just be on the other side of the hill of hell and it could be a couple more steps until you start going downhill.


6. QUESTIONING YOUR SANITY

Yes, we all do this from time to time. Sometimes I will be thinking about why I just quit and get a rap job, but that would be contradicting what I just wrote about going hell. So just keep on going. Have that vision in your mind and don't stray off it. Keep working your plan.


7. BEING YOUR OWN CHEERLEADER

You have a vision, you have a focus. Sometimes it is going to be difficult to express that vision to people at the beginning. The more you work on it and the more you immerse yourself in the project the better vision will appear and the easier that it will be to explain to people. I've found recently that I've had problems explaining to people because I don't have exactly in my mind what I want to do but it is becoming clearer and clearer everyday.

There is always a price to anything and the above seven points are the price of success. Remember to achieve your goals and to do what you set out to do, you will need to accept these things and to forget about the difficult things and to just get on with it.

I assure you, the price will be worth it.