Why Success Requires Not Committing To Anything You Can’t Walk Away From

In one of my favorite movies, “Heat”, there’s a powerful line by Robert De Niro’s character that set the foundation for the plot.

Here it is…

“Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”

This line reminded me a lot of what it takes to become successful.

You see, success is selfish and unpredictable.

It wants most of your time, attention and commitment.

You can be in the middle of something important and success will call you demanding you come RIGHT NOW.

You might joke and say “Success sounds like a crazy and needy girlfriend”.

Laugh and joke all you want, but success is nothing like a girlfriend.

There’s no breaking up and making up with success; you either stay committed or it’s gone the moment you don’t put it first.

Period.

You can apologize to a woman, but you can’t apologize to success.

That’s why before you consider becoming successful, you need to make sure of one thing:

You eliminate anything that you can’t walk away from the moment success calls.

This isn’t an easy thing to do.

It’s the reason why only 1 out of every 100 people become successful.

You must become indebted to success if you truly want it.

So what do you do?

How do you know when success is calling?

Three words: lack of progress

Every time your success is stagnant, you must work until you reach the next level.

For example, this blog went through a time where my traffic wouldn’t increase.

I was stuck at 300-350 visitors per day.

This was an obvious sign that success was calling to tell me that I needed to work more.

I simply wasn’t doing enough.

My blog was STARVING for new content, and since I wasn’t feeding it, my traffic wasn’t growing.

So what did I do?

I began writing more than usual and releasing one blog post after another.

Knowing how Google ranks content, I made sure that each article was of high quality.

This required hours of writing and editing.

It wasn’t easy, but I powered through and worked until my traffic finally increased.

My work ethic was strong and scary like a female lion on the prowl when her cub’s missing.

Nothing or no one could distract or stop me.

Would I have rather been out with friends having fun instead of working?

Absolutely, but success was calling and I made the decision to put it first.

My blog was starving so I did what real men do: Put food on the table

Fast forward a couple years later and this blog now receives THOUSANDS of visitors every month.

But you know what?

That level of success came with a price.

It cost me time away from friends and family.

Was it worth it?

Don’t make me laugh, I’ll do it all again in the blink of an eye.

In fact, I’ll do it all again for half of the success I have now.

You know how they say that you can do or have anything you put your mind to?

Well, I disagree.

I say that you can do or have anything you put your mind, heart, blood, sweat, and tears to.

Whatever you want in life will require sacrifice.

For most people, sacrifice is an expensive price to pay.

Well, you only have two choices…

Either pay the high price or continue shopping within your budget in the “complacent isle”.

As Kurt Vonnegut says in the amazing novel, “Cats Cradle”… In this world, you get what you pay for.

Talk soon,

-Alexander Writer