Sacrifice for Success by R.E. Smith

Recently I was asked, "Can a man be successful without making sacrifices?" and my immediate reply was, Can a man know true love without heartbreak?

The answer to both questions can only truly be answered by each individual striving to attain success or love. We are cultured from an early age to identify a career path and work towards it. This advice is a very good one but not the perfect advice to give. In identifying the career path we want to pursue and setting our minds to accomplish the task will result in us becoming productive members of society. The reality is everyone can succeed in whatever career path they chose whether it be medicine, law, education, politics, logistics, engineering or aviation.

The question then stands are they truly successful or are they just being productive citizens? This question pushes us to think about what true success is because accomplishing a task or goal is not true success. It is merely completing a task while on the road to success.

We often hear stories of individuals quitting their profitable 9-5 jobs to do what they love even though the pay is less. This is because true success comes with sacrifice and true sacrifice means to sometimes give up what you are comfortable with and swing for the fences. One must do what one loves. If we research some of the most successful individuals in the world it will reveal that they are doing what they love.

Of note, moments of clarity comes when we are at our lowest. The moral here is to always have a Plan B&C in case you hit rock bottom. The most successful people in the world succeed because they did not give up even when the odds were stacked against them. The road to success is often difficult and the more you fail is the more you achieve because if you fail ten times, then that is ten more ways you know how not to fail again.

The key to success is effective planning. To be successful one must become a supervisor of one's destiny. One must evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of one's short and long term goals. One must be tactical in navigating the obstacles of life to achieve each goal while on the road to success.

Another key component of becoming successful is to cultivate good work ethics such as punctuality, adaptability, dependability, loyalty, accountability, firm integrity, strong confidence, and excellent management skills. Cultivating such skills are very important when you are on the path to success because it sends a strong message about your level of professionalism. As a professional, it is your responsibility to model every aspect of the professional journey not only should you be able to speak and dress professional but you must be professional enough to have in-depth knowledge about your field of choice.

Success is hard work and dedication, to achieve success we must carefully travel very long, difficult and sometimes a lonely path. In today's society, we see where more and more opportunities are presenting themselves for individuals to be successful at what they do and also to assist others in achieving success. The rule of paying if forward has worked and is working in our global community. So while we are busy toiling on the road to success let us remember that success is available to everyone; therefore, we must become mentors and guides to others who are on the road to success this is called networking.

The more individuals we assist in life the more successful we become. True success manifests from within our innate ability to look out for and be our brothers' keepers. Let us not become fruitless trees with many branches, but let us become vines that bear fruits for all to see. Each person you assist on the road to success takes you one step closer to becoming a successful human being by sharing and giving the greatest gift there is: the gift of charity, the gift of love.

Heartbreaks may come, failure may be inevitable, but each setback is a stepping stone towards greater things. Learn from each moment, teach each life lesson you learn to others. To be successful one must be at peace in mind, body, and soul. Let us not strive only to be productive citizens in the global economy, but to successfully balance all areas of our lives. The journey to success is long, but the rewarding end result is worth the sacrifice.

Thanks for reading like, share and leave a comment in the section below.