Everything on earth has a price tag.
Doubt me? Ever heard of ladies who had to exchange their bodies for a job position? Ever heard of men who had to kill to acquire wealth and drag up their families from poverty. Ever heard of children who had to drop out of school to hawk?
Or even about the man who lost his wife and child because he could not afford a Caesarean Section. This is a true life story that happened just last year and swept the entire nation in a storm of shock and rage as it was discovered that the doctor won’t touch his wife until the complete money for the Caesarean Section was deposited.
So everything on earth has a price. Even success.
But there is a wrong price and a right price. The wrong price is sacrificing your self esteem for the momentary benefit of acquiring a job. Or selling your conscience for luxury. Success like everything else is developed on a foundation. When the foundation is rotten, it can’t last long. When the foundation is built with the wrong materials – like sleeping with ones’ boss, thuggery, theft and other misdemeanors – its only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down.
But if built with the right price and on the right foundation, your success will not just be solid but it will inspire and motivate many generations after you.
So what is the right price?
The right and only price for success is knowing what you want and going after it. Sounds simple right? Wrong. A huge number of people don’t even know what they want. They know they want to be millionaires but do they have a clear path of how to get to that millions. And that’s why, today, the number of people ready to do anything to live like the rich and famous has increased, while the number of people ready to sit down and plan how to arrive at that millions has decreased drastically.
Doubt me? Ask 10 fresh graduates what their ten-year plan is and you will probably get a blank stare from 8 of them.
A life without a plan is a life mapped for failure.
Or He who fails to plan, plans to fail.
Let’s just take a moment and think this through: If you want to deliver a child in the US (a trend nowadays), you will have to figure out the following: How much its going to cost, when you intend to leave for the States, where you will stay, how you will take care of yourself before and after childbirth. You will have a plan for at least the 6 months surrounding your last trimester. You won’t just wake up one morning and head to the airport like a zombie, without telling anybody where you are going or discussing with your hubby.
The same applies to Success.
Success is not something you stumble into. Its premeditated. Like you know this is what you want and you plan out how you are going to get there, the steps you need to take.
But that’s not all.
Success is a very picky bride. She has a lot of suitors and takes them through difficult, challenging tasks to see who is worthy of her hand.
Only the one who is persistent and smart, wins her in the end.
Some people have great plans but abandon ship at the first sight of trouble. I know because I have been there once. But if you take a good look at many of today’s success stories like Mike Adenuga, Linda Ikeji, M.I Abaga, you will notice something: They had bad times. They had really bad days.
But they persisted.
They didn’t give up because things were getting rough. They didn’t throw in the towel because things weren’t going as they planned. And today they are celebrated.
Thomas Edison put it this way: “Our greatest weakness lies in Giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try one more time“.
And Edison should know what he is talking about because he failed 99 times when inventing the light bulb. But he persisted and finally, on his 100th trial, he was successful.
I have learnt that if you have a solid plan and you are persistent, success will be yours. What’s your own take? Contribute and let’s learn from you too.
My sincere advice
First figure out what you really want in life, aside from money. Do you want to be a world-influence like Mother Theresa and greatly reduce poverty? Are you passionate about beautifying women and want to be the next Mary Kay? Do you just love food and want to create a franchise like McDonald’s? Or are you so driven, focused and ambitious that you see yourself as the next Condoleezza Rice?
After Figuring out what you want to achieve in your life, map out the steps that will take you there. Be really sincere with yourself. If its going to take a lot of money to get there, then you need to state how you can start small and grow.
Do not be daunted by your dreams. Because where there is a will, there is a way.
Are you fired up? Is there a step you believe will help others get even better results and achieve success sooner? Please share in the comments so we can all learn and grow together.
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Hi Chioma,
Reached your Blog site via the A-List Blogging Mastery FB page after reading your post there.
The Blog title was interesting. Perhaps, a slight twist to the same content may help make it a tad more arresting:
eg: The True price of success – Is it what you think it is?
The first couple of paragraphs made me catch my breath. They were raw, powerful and touched a chord in me. I’ve not only heard of, but I experience (present continuous) a lot of what you’ve written about. There is without doubt a really dark side to – planet earth.
Loved the way you chose to map the Price of success to what’s worth it and what’s not.
The question you proposed to ask 10 graduates, of which you expected 8 to return a
– Huh! what’s with you type – of response,
would likely get a 10 out of 10 response where I come from.
The really sad truth perhaps is the education system creates tons of unemployable, certified, people.
(Yup, I know that sounds a bit off :-))
Your two statements:
Quote:
A life without a plan is a life mapped for failure.
Or
He who fails to plan, plans to fail.
UnQuote:
Sound great enough to be Tweeted.
The paragraph about delivering a child in the US is something that threw me. While you’ve mapped out a series of actionable processes, was wondering if this was really possible. Most countries I know of frown on this sort of thing, but then I’ll be the first to accept I can be completely wrong about this.
The part about Dame Success being a very picky bride was a great read and so very true.
I’ve been through some really tough times and had to grit my teeth and stuck it out, today several years, of disappointments and successes later, I’ve realized what a blessing in disguise disappointments can me.
I’ve also learned first-hand how destructive disappointments can be without the grit and self-belief needed to – See – success just around the corner.
You have a beautiful style of writing.
You are forthright and pretty fearless with what you’ve got to say, I honestly think that is awesome.
These are the ingredients of people who can change the world and often do.
One tiny issue though, and again I maybe completely wrong,
Your sentence:
My sincere advise
I think advise should be spelled – Advice
In my defence, English is not my mother tongue, I learned the language from a terrific English Teacher (Mrs. Mabel Anrade) and a English Grammar text book written by the authors Wren & Martin.
Great Blog post. I’d love to read some more.
Warmly
Ivan Bayross
Thanks Ivan,
You pointed out so many things and honestly I am glad you also caught the flaws in my writing. The title you proposed is definitely arresting and am totally stealing that…with due permission of course.
I am working on making my blog more social, including making it easier to tweet quotes. But am taking things one step at a time.
I agree with you that many countries will frown at birthing in the US but its an example I simply couldn’t pass up because I found out that many people despite their national inhibitions, dream of nothing more than making life easier and better for their kids. This often involves a fantasy of birthing within US shorelines.
I am really glad you overcame life’s challenges and disappointments and even turned the pepper life threw at you into something of meaning. Stories like yours is the reason I stay up late at night, knowing that no matter what I might be going through, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and therefore I must find my way- even if its crawling and fighting – to the end of the tunnel.
Thanks for your compliments on my writing and Oh yes! you are completely right about Advice. Your English teacher was not that terrible after all 😉