Be Willing to Pay the Price

Jack Canfield's Success Principle #16

If we are willing to face overwhelming challenges, setbacks, and pain, we can achieve highly successful outcomes. In today's lesson, Jack Canfield provides us with a number of stories about people who have been willing to pay the price to get what they want.

(1) Remember that pain is temporary; benefits last forever.
In 1976, Shun Fujimoto won the 1976 gold medal in gymnastics, in spite of the fact that he had broken his knee. He endured searing pain, because he knew that it was temporary, and the gold medal would last forever.

(2) Pratice, practice, practice.
Winners are willing to put in more time than the average person to get where they want to be. Basketball player Bill Bradley stayed late afer every practice to put in extra time on the court. He practiced four hours every day. If we want to excel, we must set aside extra time to hone our craft.

(3) Pay the price.
To win, we must put in disciplined effort until we excel at our chosen trade, craft, or profession. Our friend, Bob Russell, started a church in the basement of someone's home with just 25 people. Throughout his career, he insisted that everyone on his team work to a point of excellence, because he strongly believes that God deserves our best. By the time he retired after four decades with Southeast Christian Church of Louisville, Kentucky, he was leading 20,000 people in worship every weekend.

(4) Do it ten times perfectly.
Jack tells a story about clarinetist Tom Boyer, whose teacher demanded that he play an extremely difficult piece 10 times perfectly each day before ending practice. In time, this procedure landed Tom a spot with the Cleveland Orchestra.

I used this same method when I taught my oldest son, Lance, how to drive. He was not allowed to leave our neighborhood until he could shift smoothly all the way around the block ten times without stalling. When he first started, he thought this was ridiculous. But years later, he told me that my demands pushed him to a point of confidence when it was time to drive out of the neighborhood and onto the expressways surrounding Cincinnati.

(5) Determine to achieve your dream at any cost.
The painter, Wyland, decided in high school that he wanted to be famous. He sold paintings around Detroit for $35 when he first started, and it took him 26 years to finally find his niche with his own gallery in Hawaii. Today, his paintings sell for $200,000. Along the way he suffered rejection, poverty, and mistreatment. But he decided that his dream was worth pursuing, and he never gave up.

(6) Do whatever it takes.
ReMax real estate founder John Assaraf pitched his franchise idea to 5 realtors every single day for 5 years. In the beginning, most people thought he was crazy. But in just a few short years, he created the most successful real estate franchise business in the world.

(7) Put in the time.
Author M. Scott Peck sold his book, The Road Less Traveled, for just $5,000. It didn't sell well at first, so he decided to put in as much time as it took to make it take off. In the first year, he participated in 1,000 radio interviews. For the next 12 years, he did at least one radio interview each day. Eventually, he broke a record for the longest time on the New York Times Bestseller list: 540 weeks.

(8) Build momentum.
The NASA space shuttles use up almost all of their fuel during takeoff. Once they break free of earth's atmosphere, however, they barely use any fuel as they float through space. Our efforts in achieving success must be similar. We need to build momentum at the beginning with extra time and energy so that we can later coast along on our early achievements.

(9) Be willing to go through the awkward stage.
Children know that if they are trying to learn something new, they're going to make mistakes. Adults, unfortunately, often expect themselves to be proficient from the very beginning. This is a ridiculous notion that keeps many people from trying to achieve a new goal. We must be willing to accept that we will be awkward at first, and we'll make some silly mistakes. That's okay. In time, we'll gain the proficiency we need.

(10) Find out the price you have to pay.
When you decide that you want to go after something, it's important to research how much it's going to cost you. If you've got a spouse and children, are you going to sacrifice all of your time with them just to achieve your dream? This is the first time in The Success Principles that Jack asks the reader to consider the costs. Be sure that pursuing your dream will not throw your life so far off balance that you lose your family and friends in the process.

Today's Challenge
Choose one of your goals and list the costs of pursuing it. Will it be worth it in the long run? Or will it cost you too dearly? Is there some way to achieve it at a slower pace or to a lesser degree, while still maintaining your most important relationships? If you determine that the price is too dear, reconsider how important the goal is to you.

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com