Alain,
This could some up a lot of your insight and drivng force and it applies to nearly all jobs and goals. "Serious money goes to serious people!" Exclamation added!
A good statement to keep posted above one's desk!
Asher
Hi Asher,
Thank you. Yes, I consider this a very important statement. I meet too many people who think that making a good income doing something they saw someone else succeed at is easy. The way I look at it, nothing that you want to do as well as possible is easy.
The bottom line is that being successful and making a strong income for extended periods of time is not easy. This is true regardless of the actual endeavor or profession. It's just too common, and I agree tempting at times, to think that doing x, z or y (replace x, z, y by your current dream income activity if you have one) is easy and will bring wealth for very little effort.
I regularly think that doing x, z or y will bring easy money. This usually takes place when I'm watching tv or when I'm listening to someone tell me how easy it was for them to succeed, stories that are usually both over exagerated and over simplified. Then I think about how hard it is to do what I know how to do and I realize how hard it is going to be to do something I have no idea how to do! This has become such a common thought pattern for me that it takes place in a matter of seconds at this point. I then go back to what I was doing and give up on trying to do what others do. I'd rather stick to doing something that I understand and that I love doing than try to do something I don't care for and don't understand only for financial gain.
Anything you want to do well is difficult and requires a high level of commitment and , yes, a serious approach
One has to be highly motivated, one needs to overcome adversity and one needs to remain competitive. Success happens for specific reasons. These reasons are hard work, long hours and having a specific plan of action. All three reasons are necessary. Having just one or two is not enough because you will be competing against people that have all three pinned down to a science.
If this wasn't so, everyone would be successful. The fact is that success is uncommon. The reason why many of us find successful people fascinating comes from the uncommoness of success.
For each success story there are 100's of failure stories. Successful people all have unsuccessful pasts. I failed more often than I succeeded. What made us successful is that we were able to build a bridge, get over our failures and move on. Only then does the road to success open up.
The difference between an unsuccessful and a successful person is that the former stopped at failure while the later looked for ways to succeed. No one starts with success. We all work our way towards success.
