If you’re a beach person like me, you’ll understand my metaphoric title. On many beaches, in order to get to your spot on the beach, you have to trudge through a seemingly endless duration of scorching hot sand, carrying your umbrella, chairs, cooler and many other things. If you don’t properly prepare yourself for the pain by wearing flip flops, sneakers or shoes, that journey through the hot sand towards the cool ocean can be almost unbearable.
The success journey is a lot like that journey towards the ocean. You have to endure the pain of the success journey in order to realize success. That pain includes obstacles, pitfalls, mistakes, failures, rejection, indifference by influential people and the roller coaster of emotions that make the journey almost unbearable.
Most, unfortunately, never make it to their spot on the beach. They underestimate the pain of the journey. As a result, the scorching hot sand is simply too hot for them to handle. So, they quit, oftentimes right before they succeed.
The few who do succeed, are able to because when the pain does come, they are prepared for it. The key to realizing success, is not tolerating the pain of the journey towards success, but preparing for it. You must expect obstacles to be in your way. You must expect pitfalls. You must expect mistakes and failures. But above all, you must expect the journey to be a long and painful one. So when those who succeed encounter the hot sand along their path, they’re ready for it – they bring along their flip flops. Being prepared for the pain enables you to focus on one thing and one thing only – getting to your spot on the beach.
About Thomas C. Corley
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