Something I’ve been wanting to get off my back for a while now, and I feel inspired to write today.
Tell me how many times the easy road has paid off for someone? I can tell you from experience it DOESN’T. Most of the time you just meet the people who are lucky and it paid off for them. Its why they are called “One Hit Wonders”. Remember Furby? Remember Nano Pets? (If you grew up in the late 90’s you’d know these…) Notice the pattern?
What about the rest of us? Well, let me just say it as plain as can be. Hard Work. Yup, that is what it takes.
Disclaimer: I am in the middle of reading, “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk. It may or may not be influencing what I’m writing, but regardless this is something I’ve known about for several years.
When I first started my blog/podcast, I did NOT do it for the purpose of raking in eyeballs and money. I wanted to share something with the world that was near and dear to my heart. If millions of people came, great! If millions of dollars flowed my way, great! But that is not why I was doing it. I was joining the ranks of people sharing a passion of theirs for the world to benefit from. Sure I’d like to have that life and be able to hang out on a beach sipping a soda (notice I didn’t say piña colada… ;P), but I have more important things I could be doing then that. Trust me, I’d get bored with that life real fast. Anyone would get bored with that life real fast.
Why? Because we have an ingrained sense of purpose in the work we love to do. Its what makes us who we are. Hard Work is what fulfills a basic desire in a man’s life.
Now that’s not to say millions of people will view my website, millions of dollars will flow my way, and that I might hang out on a beach sometime in the future. Those are just the side effects of working your butt off. Notice how easy it is to get off of track? We make the spin-off of what we do into something we think defines us. Don’t hold that up to the pedestal of “goals to attain”, because its not.
In my studies, I’ve been noticing a pattern. Those who make it in life, and those that are remembered for all time, are those who worked till their butts fell off and kept going. Was it easy? No. Was it fun all the time? No. Was the pain unbearable at times? Yes. Did it pay off? Yes. Is it still paying off for them? Yup.
I’ll let you peruse your thoughts and post a comment, but I’ll leave you with one thought.
“You’ll only get out of life what you put into it. Little effort reaps little. Exponential effort reaps countless rewards. How much are you going to put in?”