We all want success. There is no denying that.
But how many of us are willing to do the work it takes to succeed?
Very few.
When we start a new career, we look for a quick way to succeed.
We want quick-fixes, tips, tricks, and hacks that can help us advance ahead without putting much effort. We read books after books, and blogs after blogs, trying to learn the secrets that'll make us successful in less time.
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We want to be a pro, but we are not willing to put in the required number of hours doing our work. We want to be successful, but we don't want to go through the struggle that takes us there.
But the struggle is an important part of success, and we better accept it.
There are no shortcuts to success. There is only one way to achieve success, and that's to Do the work every day.
You succeed only when you do the work that needs to be done. And it requires you to put out a volume of work before you start to see any improvements in your work. And that's when you know you are close to success.
We can succeed only if we put in the hours that it takes to do high quality work. Our first goal should be to become excellent in our field. And as we walk through this road to excellence we will find opportunities that'll guide us towards the right way to succeed.
Our focus should be mastery, not money. I have studied the lives of several great people and I learned that they all succeeded in their lives because, first, they excelled in what they did, and, second, they used their excellence to do meaningful work.
Now, I believe that once we become a pro at our job, money follows soon.
We have to pay our dues first. Without that we can't be successful.
Maybe few of us get lucky and become successful with the very first thing we create, but such lucky ones are few by far. And it's more likely that You and I aren't among those. For us, there is only the path which is filled with years of hard work, dedication, focus, and struggle to create meaningful work every day.
Cheating your way, or taking the easy route, or copying others won't make you successful. Such a success, even if attained, has a short life, and you won't feel satisfied with yourself.
But, the success you get after doing the hard work lasts long, and you also feel satisfied with yourself for doing the work.
So why should we run after short-lived success, when we have it in us to work hard, create great things, and achieve permanent success - a success that's not just limited to money, but also to living a simple, happy, and creative life.
To become a pro and succeed in our craft, we have to keep working no matter what.
When our work isn't any good, we have to keep working; when we don't seem to make any progress in our work, we have to keep working; when others laugh at our work, we have to keep working; when others criticize our work, we have to keep working; when we can't find a way to make a living from our work, we have to keep working.
It's doing the work that will make us better and, some day, lead us to success. All we can do is work with all out heart and mind in it. That's the only thing in our hands.
Can't we just stop looking for the next shortcut to success, and instead focus on practicing our craft and producing more output each day?
There is an old and tested route to success, and it's the same one that every person, past or present, who became the best in his/her field used to succeed. And that's to put in the work every day, try to get better at it every day, and continue to learn from the masters every day.
Let's leave the shortcuts to others. Let them cheat, let them criticize, let them create controversy, let them do the unethical things, and let them succeed without integrity.
Let's do the right thing ourselves. Let us be the ones who work hard, let us create value, let us give more than we ask for, and let us succeed with integrity.
We don't need shortcuts. Instead of the short way or the long way, we will take the right way to success. And that right way comes from excelling in our craft and creating meaningful things with it, and adding value to others' life in some way.
So which route will you take - the short one or the right one?
Thank you for reading this article.
This post first appeared on Singhrahul.com - A Blog About Creativity, Entrepre, please read the originial post: here
