One day, a young boy went to his father and asked, “Dad, how much success can I have when I grow up?”. His father looked at him and asked, “How much pains are you willing to go through when you grow up?”
Though many people don’t seem to understand this simple principle about life, their ignorance doesn’t change the rule, which is; to get, you have to give. To live, you have to die. To achieve greatness, you have to make great sacrifices.
In today’s video, I’ll be sharing with you the three sacrifices everyone needs to make to get rich. They are sacrifices most people do not like to make. If you’re new here, consider subscribing so that you won’t miss other interesting videos like this.
- Change your environment
In the Biblical story of Abraham as recorded in Genesis chapter 12, God told Abraham, “Leave your country, your relative and your father’s home”.
Why did God instruct Abraham to leave his people? Well, God wanted him to become a different person from whom his family and relative were. As long as he lived in the same environment with them, he would never be who God wanted him to be.
Most of us need the same thing today. We need to leave our present environment to surround ourselves with the people we want to be like.
Does this mean that you must travel away from your relatives or family?
No. It doesn’t have to be a physical departure. It simply means that you have to change who you hang out with, who your friends are, and who you listen to.
I’m so lucky in life to have understood this simple truth early in my life; you can’t be better than those you hang out with. You can’t be better than those you listen to. You can’t be better than your environment.
I understood this secret when I was just about 19. I then stopped being friends with negative people or even listen to their advice. I chose as friends, people who dreamed big and pursued their dreams. I searched for and made my teachers the people who have achieved what I wanted to achieve.
Jim Rohn said, “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. So if you want to be rich and successful in life, the very first thing to do is to change your environment, change the people you call friends and the people you take advice from.
Yes, this may not be very easy, but if you don’t make the sacrifice to let go of negative people in your life, you’ll end up becoming like them.
- Love Yourself Enough to hate yourself
About 12 years ago, when I announced to my family members that I wanted to build a company of my own, everyone was worried about me. They had reasons to be concerned, you know. I was only 21, I had no money, and nobody in my family has ever done what I told them I would do.
While I could have ruined my life as everyone worried I would, I also knew that if I was too conscious about saving myself, I would achieve nothing.
The problem with most humans is that we love ourselves so much that we want to protect our lives. Unfortunately, you can’t live, unless you’re willing to die. You can’t be successful unless you’re willing to fail, massively.
To achieve your life and financial goal, you must love yourself enough to hate yourself. You must be courageous enough to jump to the unknown. You must dare life and risk all.
I hate people who just talk. I love actions. I love the daring spirit. I love to pursue things, even if I’ll fail. My friend, that your dream needs your tears, sweat and blood. You must be willing to sacrifice that, or else it will remain a dream forever.
Love yourself enough to hate yourself. Love yourself enough to step out. Love yourself enough to try things that might not work. Love yourself enough to risk your very life; because if you don’t, your life will be boring and empty.
- Raise Your Standard
When I was much younger, I had a heated discussion with my only brother. He was talking about jobs while I was talking about building a company. At some point, I looked at him and announced, “You see, brother, even the Central Bank of my country cannot employ me, not even the richest man in my country can give me the job I need”. What an arrogant statement!
And yet, that was a fact I believed firmly.
You see, when we go back in history, we discover that people who achieved unbelievable success always believe they are special.
For example, Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander the Great believed that they were not ordinary human beings. They were convinced that an angel or some spirit gave birth to them. That was the reason why they believed they could conquer the world.
You don’t have to go to such extreme. However, think about Steve Jobs and Jose Mourinho, they actually believed that they are special. From childhood, Steve Jobs had always thought about himself as being different and special, and Jose Mourinho even calls himself “the special one”.
Okay, you don’t have to be like Alexander or even like Jose Mourinho, but you have to raise your standard. That means you have to be convinced that you’re made for a higher purpose. You have to believe that you’re important and even needed in the world.
You have to be so confident about your future that you’re sure you can never be among the poor. Most people in our world today think so little of themselves.
They have very little standard. They expect so little from the world. Because of that, they accept whatever the world throws at them.
The truly successful ones don’t accept whatever they get. They choose what they want and lay down their lives to get just that or nothing else.
Even though this will make your life more difficult, you have to learn how to raise your standard. You have to learn how to tell the world exactly what you want and refuse to accept what is available.
You have to believe so much in yourself that you’re convinced that the world needs you. You have to stop thinking as if you’re just one of those 8 billion people living on the planet. Instead, you’re one and only, an important soul needed to solve some of the world’s problems.
Yes, this kind of mindset will make a lot of people hate you. It will even make your situation worse because you’ll make more mistakes and fail more than everyone else, but that’s the only way to the top.
If you desire to be wealthy and successful, here are three sacrifices you have to be willing to make;
First, change your environment. Let go of some people. Spend time with positive people who dream and act on their dreams. People who complain, point fingers and make excuses are not going anywhere in life. If you spend enough time with them, they’ll drag you to where they are going, and that is; nowhere.
Second, love yourself enough to hate yourself. Don’t think your life is so important that you have to protect it. You’ll lose it anyway. Since you can’t live forever, why don’t you decide to live this one life like a hero?
And lastly, raise your standard. Raise what you think you deserve. Stop thinking like a victim who is just here and don’t know what to do. Start thinking like a needed messiah who is here to solve some of the most important problems in the world.
