Some people want effortless success. They want fast cars, fancy houses, or recognition, all without having to work for it. Sadly, that’s not possible. To be sure, some people have those things and did not labor for them. But those things are not success. Success can only be achieved through hard work.
Success is the attainment of one’s goals. Attaining something means that you did not have it previously. If work was not required to accomplish your goals, you didn’t attain them. Nothing really changed. You merely decided to collect what was already within your grasp. To get something that you could not have before requires growth.
Growth means stretching yourself. It’s fumbling your way to deftness. There is no easy way. Growth necessitates failure, confronting new challenges and difficult situations in order to gain new skills or hone your existing ones. Moments of insight are fueled by days if not weeks of research. All of these things are difficult, exhausting and painful.
When I struggle with my goals, sometimes I just want to give up. I want to get help, or find someone to do it for me. I wish my problem would go away, my situation resolved. I want someone else to swoop in and rescue me.
But I have lost sight of the bigger picture. There will always be a next problem, or another challenge. I don’t really need to solve anything. I can bear the consequences of failure. No, what I really want is to become someone who can handle those types of problems without shrinking from them. To grow into something bigger than myself. Because that is true success. And after having tasted it, nothing else compares.