Winning at Life – What Are You Willing to Sacrifice?

Note: This post is written by Patrick Cole

Where are you? Of course, you are some place on this planet. But where are you in your mind, heart and soul? Are you where you want to be in your personal and professional life? Do you know where you want to go from this point? And do you know that there are sacrifices you need to make to get there?

No celebrated athlete, no world leader, no successful businessman or author, musician, or artist has “made it” without also making sacrifices – without giving up some parts of their former lives.

One person may not have to give up what another will, but there are certain common sacrifices that we all must make if we intend to become winners in life. Here are five of those sacrifices.

1. Your Comfort Zone

When we are comfortable, we aren’t growing. We have to be in a state of discomfort to learn new things and to take risks. There are sacrifices we have to make – sometimes it’s a job; sometimes it will be friends or family; sometimes it’s a lifestyle filled with “toys” and pleasures.

These can be big sacrifices, because they put us in an unknown place where we have to forge a new path. And it can be lonely, until we find new connections and new support systems.

2. Leisure Time

You have to be hungry enough that you are willing to give up some of the time you used to spend just hanging out, watching TV, playing video games, enjoying the Internet, and going out with friends.

All of these things were possible in your former life, because your work allowed that. Now, however, you have to learn new things and focus on where you will be next month and next year. You have a plan, and it will require work during some of those former leisure hours.

Consider this: You have an idea for your own business. You are still in your current work position, in order to eat while you launch this startup. Your free time is gone.

Consider this: You want to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. You may keep your current job, but all of your non-work hours will be spent on your project, whatever that might be.

Nothing worthwhile comes easily or quickly, no matter what you may think. And you have to decide if you are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term goals.

3. Sleep

You will give up sleep marching toward your goal. That goal might be a college degree, and you will be working and going to school and studying for tests and writing essays and papers.

Your goal might be your own business. You will definitely be losing sleep, crafting and implementing your business plan, looking for funding; you will lose sleep with worry and anxiety.

You want to be an author. You will find yourself writing at odd hours, meeting deadlines, finding a publisher willing to take a chance and/or marketing your self-published masterpiece.

And if you have a day job while doing all of this? Plan on losing sleep.

4. Stability

Stability is what you have when you are in your comfort zone. No matter what goal you have identified, you will be sacrificing old behaviors and the stability that comes with them.

If your goal is to spend more time with your family, then you will be sacrificing leisure time and some income-producing activities. If you are starting a new business and are using your savings to do it, then you are losing some financial stability.

Life is not stable when we make change of any kind.

5. A Smooth Path

There is no smooth path when you intend to become a winner in life. Mistakes will be made; failures will happen; things will not go as you planned.

When these things happened, you can either back off and slip back into your comfort zone, or you can “lick your wounds” and press on.

What Will You Not Sacrifice?

This may be easy to identify – hopefully, these are things such as your values, your integrity, your health, and your family.

But, when you begin to think of what you are willing to give up, think of your sacrifices as those things that have kept you from your goal. If your goal is to be happy, then you sacrifice what makes you unhappy; if your goal is to own your own business, then you sacrifice what is keeping you from doing that.

This mindset makes those sacrifices much more palatable. And if you find that you can’t make those sacrifices, then that is okay too. It means that your goal was just a “want” after all. Find another goal!

I was born in Indiana, USA. Graduated from Indiana University High School and got higher education in Indiana University Bloomington. My hobbies are writing, rock music and self-education. I’m a writer at EssaysSolutions (http://essays.solutions/blog)