SUCCESS REQUIRES SACRIFICE - Jim Rohn Motivation

[Music] you know what's fascinating the other day I was talking to a good friend of mine and he asked me a question that stopped me right in my tracks he said why do some people make it and others don't and I'll tell you what I told him success has a price tag and that price tag is called sacrifice now I grew up on a farm in Idaho and let me share something interesting with you about farming that changed my entire perspective on success Every Spring my father would take our best seeds seeds we could have

eaten seeds we could have sold and he'd bury them in the ground to a young boy this seemed crazy why would you take perfectly good seeds and just bur them but here's the miracle and pay close attention to this because it's profound those buried seeds that sacrifice of IM immediate consumption would multiply a h hundredfold by Harvest Time that's exactly how success works you have to give up something valuable today to gain something even more valuable tomorrow some people say well I want success but I don't want to give anything up and I always say

that's like wanting a harvest without planting any seeds it just doesn't work that way the universe has set it up so that everything worthwhile requires a sacrifice you want Better Health you've got to sacrifice that extra hour of sleep to get to the gym you want more money you've got to sacrifice some leisure time to work on your skills your business your education you want better relationships you've got to sacrifice your pride sometimes and be the first to say I'm sorry I remember when I first started out barely making enough to get by I had

a choice I could buy a TV and watch other people succeed or I could buy books and learn how to succeed myself that TV would have given me Immediate pleasure but those book they gave me a future see most people don't succeed because they're not willing to be temporarily uncomfortable for permanent Improvement they're not willing to plant their seeds they want to eat their seeds and have a harvest too but life just doesn't work that way and here's what's really interesting about sacrifice it's not about giving up something for nothing it's about giving up something

good for something better it's about giving up what you want now for what you want most the question isn't do you want success everyone wants success the real question is what price are you willing to pay because everything has a price and that price must be paid in full and it must be paid in advance but that's just the beginning of understanding how success really works in our world today you know when I started studying success real success not just the kind you see on magazine covers I discovered something remarkable success isn't what most people

think it is it's not about getting lucky and it's certainly not about hoping and wishing things will get better while sitting on your couch eating popcorn the marketplace and this is crucial to understand the marketplace is brutally honest it doesn't care about your dreams your wishes or your good intentions the marketplace only rewards one thing value the value you bring to the table the value you create the value you become let me tell you a story about a young man I met at one of my seminars he came up to me afterward all excited saying

I really want to be successful I asked him what did you do last weekend he said well I watched TV hung out with friends played some games said that's fine but understand this successful people don't just want success they work at success here's the fundamental truth about success that nobody wants to hear success is not something you chase it's something you become and becoming requires fundamental changes in how you think how you act and most importantly how you spend your time I often tell people don't wish it was easier wish you were better don't wish

for fewer problems wish for more skills don't wish for Less challenge wish for more wisdom that's the foundation that's where it all starts now let me share something fascinating about the price tag of success success has a price and the price must be paid in full and it must be paid in advance that's just how it works you can't buy success on credit you can't say well I'll be disciplined after I succeed it doesn't work the price tag includes things like going to work early when others are sleeping studying While others are partying saving While

others are spending practicing While others are playing learning While others are loafing and here's what's interesting the price of success is always less than the price of failure but most people don't see it that way because they're not thinking longterm term they're thinking about today this week this month but success isn't built in days it's built in decades I remember talking to a successful businessman who told me something profound he said most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade we want everything now instantly immediately

but that's not how real lasting success UC Works your foundation of success is built on understanding that everything worthwhile has a price everything want better health there is a price want better relationships there's a price want Financial Independence there's a price and here's the kicker you can't negotiate the price the only choice you have is whether you're willing to pay it but and this is important once you understand this once you truly get it deep in your bones that success has a price and you're willing to pay it something magical happens your excuses disappear your

procrastination vanishes your commitment level rises why because now you understand the rules of the game you understand that success isn't about luck or chance or circumstances and speaking of understanding how success really works let me share with you something fascinating about the mathematics of achievement you know what's fascinating about success it follows mathematical principles just as reliable as gravity 2 + 2 = 4 yesterday today and it'll be the same tomorrow success works exactly the same way it's not mysterious it's mathematical let me break this down in a way that'll absolutely Amaze you every day

every single day you're either moving toward success or away from it there's no standing still in life even standing still is going backward because time is moving forward here's a simple equation I want you to write down your life in five years would be the sum of two things the books you read and the people you associate with that's it simple mathematics you can't hang around negative people for 5 years and expect to live a positive life you can't read zero books and expect to have better answers time the most precious commodity we have everyone

gets the same amount 24 hours a day 168 hours a week the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful isn't time it's what they do with that time I talked to a young man recently who told me he didn't have time to read I asked him how much TV do you watch he said about 3 hours a day I said there's your reading time it's not about having time that's the mathematics of time management here's something that'll blow your mind small changes compounded over time create massive results if you improve just 1% every day at

the end of the year you're 37 times better not 365 per better that's the power of compound interest working in your personal development let me give you another mathematical principle the slight Edge successful people do little things that seem to make no difference difference at the time they read 10 pages of a good book every day they make one extra phone call they save a little money they exercise for 30 minutes nothing dramatic but here's the magic these little things compounded over time create massive success and speaking of Compound Effect let me share something profound

about sacrifices every small sacrifice you make today compounds into something bigger tomorrow when you choose to save $100 instead of spending it that's not just $100 plus $100 plus what it could become when you choose to spend an hour learning instead of watching TV that's not just an hour that's an hour plus all the opportunities that new knowledge brings the mathematics of achievement says your income rarely exceeds your personal development if you want to have more you've got to become more want to earn $110,000 a month you've got to become a $10,000 a month person

in terms of your skills your thinking your relationships your habits what's really exciting about understanding these mathematics once you get it once you really understand that success is predictable that it follows mathematical principles you stop hoping and start knowing you stop wishing and start working because now you understand that success isn't about luck it's about law mathematical law now speaking of becoming more valuable let me share with you what successful people consistently sacrifice to achieve their goals what's interesting about successful people they're willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do and it's

not because successful people like doing these things more they don't they just understand that temporary discomfort is the price of permanent Comfort Comfort zones they're interesting places nice cozy predictable but here's a problem with Comfort zones nothing grows there I always say life begins at the end of your comfort zone and successful people they make friends with discomfort they understand that being uncomfortable today leads to being Unstoppable tomorrow I remember when I first started in business every morning I had a choice yes stay in my warm comfortable bed or get up early to work on

my dreams nobody was forcing me to get up nobody was checking if I showed up but I knew something most people don't realize success doesn't sleep in time sacrifices because this is where most people fumble the ball successful people treat time like the precious commodity it is While others are watching the latest TV show successful people are reading learning planning working while others are complaining about Monday morning successful people are already halfway through their most important tasks what's fascinating most people spend more time planning their vacations than planning their lives think about that they'll spend

hours looking for the best hotel deal but won't spend 15 minutes planning their day successful people they sacrifice that go with the flow lifestyle they become masters of their time not victims of it I had a friend who wanted to start a business he told me I'll work on it when I have time I said you'll never have time you have to make time he didn't like that answer but 6 months later he thanked me he started getting up 2 hours earlier every day was it comfortable no did he enjoy it at first absolutely not

but he understood something crucial you don't find time for important things you make time style choices because this is where it gets really interesting successful people make different choices about how they live their lives they drive used cars while saving for Investments they live in modest homes while building their businesses they pack lunches While others eat out every day I remember talking to a successful businessman who told me something profound he said for the first 10 years of my business I live like nobody wanted to live so for the rest of my life I could

live like nobody could think about that While others bought new cars he bought used While others bought fancy clothes he bought books While others focused on looking successful he focused on becoming successful short-term Pleasures that'll blow your mind successful people don't deny themselves Pleasures they just delay them they understand the principle of sacrifice they know that saying no to something good today might mean saying yes to something better tomorrow let me give you an example two young people start their careers one saves $100 a month and invest it the other spends that extra $100 on

entertainment after 30 years guess what happens the first person is financially free while the second person is still trading time for money same amount of money different choices what's really fascinating about these sacrifices they're not really sacrifices at all they're Investments when you give up television time to read you're not sacrificing entertainment you're investing in your mind when you get up early to work on your business you're not sacrificing sleep you're investing in your future when you live below your means you're not sacrificing lifestyle you're investing in your freedom and successful people understand something else

about sacrifice it's not about giving up every everything it's about giving up something good for something better it's about trading what you want now for what you want most most people want to be successful but they don't want to change they want different results without doing different things but successful people understand that you can't Harvest different crops from the same seeds you want different results you've got to plant different seeds speaking of changing how we think about success let me share with you some something powerful about the mindset shift that makes all these sacrifices not

just possible but inevitable what separates the successful from the unsuccessful it's not Talent it's not luck it's not even education it's mindset and the biggest mindset shift you can make is moving from being a consumer to becoming a producer most people spend their lives consuming consuming food entertainment information products but successful people they wake up every morning asking themselves what can I produce today what value can I contribute I remember talking to a young man who was complaining about his job his boss his paycheck I asked him a simple questions what have you produced today

that someone would be willing to pay for he looked at me blankly see he was stuck in consumer thinking he was thinking about what he could get instead what he could give here's something fascinating about excuses everyone has them the successful and the unsuccessful both have problems both face challenges both deal with setbacks the difference successful people use their energy to find Solutions while unsuccessful people use their energy to find excuses you can have your excuses or you can have your success but you can't have both they don't live in the same house every time

you make an excuse you're voting for medoc every time you take responsibility you're voting for excellence where it gets really interesting personal responsibility this is the game Cher this is where everything shifts when you take 100 responsibility for everything in your life your results your relationships your bank account your health something magical happens you move from victim to Victor I often tell people don't blame the economy don't blame the government don't blame your parents don't blame your education why because when you blame you give away your power and if you give away your power you

give away your ability to change your life what personal responsibility looks like if you don't like something in your life you change it if you can't change it you change your attitude about it but you never ever blame blame is the favorite game of consumers producers they're too busy creating solutions to play the blame game something fascinating about this mindset shift it changes how you see everything problems become opportunities obstacles become Stepping Stones setbacks become setups for comebacks why CU producers don't see problems they see possibilities I talked to a successful entrepreneur who told me

something profound she said the day I stopped saying can't because and started saying how can I was The Day My Life changed it's not about having no obstacles it's about having a different response to those obstacles this mindset shift is like turning on a light in a dark room suddenly you see things that were always there but hidden in the darkness you see opportunities where others see obstacles you see potential where others see problems you see responsibility where others see blame and once you make this shift once you transform from consumer to producer from excus

maker to solution finder from most people never see it but without it everything else falls apart success works exactly the same way it's all about the foundation daily disciplines because this is where your foundation begins your life is not made by the big decisions you make once in a while your life is made by the small decisions you make every single day every single day what time do you get up what do you read what do you eat what do you talk to these seemingly small decisions they're like laying bricks one brick might not look

like much but stack them up day after day and suddenly you've built a wall stacked them up long enough and you've built a cathedral I remember talking to a successful writer who told me something profound he said I'm not a great writer I'm a great rewriter and I write every single day see he understood something most people miss success isn't about intensity it's about consistency it's not what you do once in a while it's what you do every single day that counts insistent action because this is where most people drop the ball they start Strong

full of enthusiasm but then life happens they miss one day then two then a week and suddenly they're back where they started but successful people they understand that consistency beats intensity every single time what consistent action looks like it's reading 10 pages of a good book every day it's making those five sales calls every day it's writing those 500 Words every day it's exercising for 30 minutes every day nothing dramatic nothing extraordinary just simple disciplines practiced every single day what's fascinating about consistent action it creates compound interest in your personal development just like money grows

through compound interest your skills your knowledge your capabilities grow through consistent action small improvements compounded daily create massive results over time creating valuable Market skills the marketplace only rewards value that's it it doesn't reward need it doesn't reward want it doesn't reward desire it only rewards value and the more valuable you become the more you can earn I often ask people what makes you valuable in the marketplace most people don't have a good answer they say things like I'm a hard worker or I'm reliable that's fine but that's the minimum that's like saying my car

has wheels of course it does that's the minimum requirement for being a car to become more valuable you need to develop skills that solve problems the bigger the problems you can solve the more valuable you become the more people you can serve the more valuable you become the more difficult you are to replace the more valuable you become the key to building valuable Market skills start with the fundamentals Master them then build on them too many people want to skip the fundamentals they want to run before they can walk but there are no elevators to

success you have to take the stairs your skills must evolve as the market evolves what made you valuable yesterday might not make you valuable tomorrow that's why continuous learning isn't optional it's mandatory that's why personal development isn't something you do once in a while it's something you do every single day what's really interesting about building this Foundation I once you have it success becomes almost inevitable not easy nothing worthwhile is ever easy but inevitable because you're not relying on luck or chance or circumstances you're building something solid something lasting something real and speaking of real

the real price you pay when you don't make these necessary sacrifices what's interesting about life you're going to pay a price either way you'll either pay the price of disciplin or you'll pay the price of regret and let me tell you something the price of discipline weighs ounces but the price of regret weighs tons procrastination because this is a silent killer of dreams when you procrastinate you're not just putting something off you're choosing your future every time you say I'll start tomorrow you're literally voting for a smaller life and here's what's fascinating about procrastination it

doesn't just cost you today's opportunity it cost you the compound interest of that opportunity I remember talking to a man in his 50s he told me 20 years ago I had an idea for a business I thought about it every day but I never started last week I saw someone else become a millionaire with the exact same idea see that's the real cost of procrastination watching someone else Live Your Dreams cost opportunities because this is where it gets painful every time you say no to growth you're saying yes to Decay every time you choose Comfort

over progress you're choosing a smaller future the opportunities you miss don't just disappear they go to someone else here something that'll blow your mind poor choices compound just like good ones just like saving $100 a month can make you wealthy over time wasting $100 a month can keep you poor just like reading good books can make you smarter over time watching mindless TV can make you dollar everything compounds good habits and bad habits what's really interesting about the price of not making sacrifices it's always higher than the price of making them always when you don't

sacrifice time for exercise you sacrifice your health when you don't sacrifice immediate pleasure for long-term growth you sacrifice your future when you don't sacrifice comfort for Progress you sacrifice your potential the cost isn't just Financial though that's part of it the real cost is in who you become because while you're avoiding sacrifice while you're choosing Comfort while you're procrastinating someone else is working growing progressing and one day you wake up and realize the gap between where you are and where you could have been is so wide It seems impossible to cross but here's the good

news and this is important it's never too late to start making the right sacrifices it's never too late to start building it's never too late to start growing the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago the second best time is today and speaking of today let me share with you exactly what you need to do right now to start making the kind of sacrifices that lead to success what separates the dreamers from the Achievers action simple immediate decisive action and right now in this moment you have a choice to make not tomorrow

not next week not when the conditions are perfect right now I'm going to challenge you to do something that that might make you uncomfortable take out a piece of paper yes right now write down three things you've been postponing three sacrifices you know you need to make but haven't had the courage to make yet maybe it's getting up an hour earlier maybe it's cutting out that unnecessary spending maybe it's finally starting that business now here's the real challenge I want you to start with one of these sacrifices tomorrow morning not next month not when you

feel ready tomorrow morning because if you're waiting to feel ready you'll be waiting the rest of your life everything you want in life is on the other side of sacrifice everything better health sacrifice comfort more money sacrifice spending better relationships sacrifice Pride better future sacrifice present pleasure here are your action steps and I want you to take them seriously first choose your sacrifices carefully make sure there sacrifices that lead to growth not just denial second start small but start immediately third stay consistent remember it's not what you do once in a while that shapes your

life it's what you do consistently and here's something fascinating about taking action the moment you start something magical happens the universe has a way of rewarding action doors begin to open opportunities appear help arrives but uh and this is crucial only after you've taken the first step success is not about what you're going to do what you plan to do or what you hope to do success is about what you're doing right now at this moment the sacrifices you're making right now the disciplines you're practicing right now remember what we talked about earlier you're going

to pay a price either way so why not pay the price that makes you better why not pay the price that moves you forward why not pay the price that transforms your life years from now you will surely arrive the question is where two people left the same spot 5 years ago one move forward made sacrifices did what was necessary the other waited for the perfect time avoided discomfort made excuses today they're miles apart and 5 years from now you will arrive at a destination where that destination is depends entirely on the sacrifices you're willing

to make starting right now