7 Hard Truths About Success You Should Know About

Success is often a subjective term. For some, success may mean wealth, while for some it could mean a certain social position. My mother, who never cared much about her professional life, always said to me: “I feel extremely successful for involving so much into this family.” That’s when I understood that every one of us perceives success differently.

Most people desire success, but very few want it badly. Many important aspects differentiate the successful people from unsuccessful ones. Besides the perception of success (from which everything starts), a few more aspects could be counted in:

a) Productive habits
b) The proper mindset and attitude
c) Ability to take consistent action
d) Refusing to give up

These are just some of the most important influencing factors when it comes to a successful personal and professional life.

Now…everyone sees success as probably the ultimate happiness and fulfillment. It’s a general belief which started from the “cool” showoffs that rich people do. Celebrities, successful, rich men, and other types of famous people are always looking good in front of the screen.

The truth is, many of them are unhappy with their lives. Success doesn’t always bring happiness. For each person and according to each circumstance, success may result in different outcomes.

Some of them are good, while some of them are bad. Like with any situation, we must assess whether our expectations of success will bring more benefits than disadvantages. In most of the cases, success will be worth it, but we must not be ignorant of certain truths.

During today’s article, we’ll take a look at seven truths about the success that you might want to know about:

1. Success Doesn’t Mean Rich

For some, success automatically means money. Who said that? If you’re instantly linking success to rich and fame, please eliminate that thought forever. As already mentioned, you need to make your own version of success. If you’ve already considering yourself a mature person, you need to assume responsibility for your life.

You need a bigger purpose in your life. Something that attracts you badly, and you believe that you’re meant for it. That is the success that you should be looking for, and no one but you can figure that out.

2. You’ll Lose Some Friends in the Meanwhile

Losing some friends in the process is an inevitable happening. Because success is not easy to obtain, you’ll have to do more every day. More work, fewer distractions, fewer people in your life, and so on.

This cuts a lot of social time because you just won’t be able to fit it in. Of course, if you choose to adopt a more flexible lifestyle and set longer-term goals, maintaining a life-work balance will be easier. If you’re 100% dedicated, you’ll definitely cut your circle of friends in half.

3. Love what You Do, Or Else…

Or else…well…there are many things that could go wrong. So many aspects that could make your life a living hell; let me explain:

Since we reach an age in which we start thinking for ourselves, we start trading our time for other assets. It could be money, love, family, or something else. Now; many employees hate their 9-to-5 jobs, and would rather do anything else instead of that.

Jane Rose, HR manager at CareersBooster, suggests that “The solution is often complicated. You might not have enough time to make a life shift right now, or you might be scared of what you could possibly lose. Either way, you must do your best to get out of your comfort zone and start to plan a better life plan.”

Do something that you love, even if it doesn’t offer the same benefits as a 12-hour day job would. You can live your life the way you want, do what you want, and not have to worry about each Monday morning.

4. You Will Have to Sacrifice Things

Besides friends, whom I’ve already mentioned, you will have to sacrifice other things too. Your free time, for instance, the time in which you relax only will often be cut off. Sometimes you’ll have to pull out 70 hour weeks in order to accomplish whatever it is that you want because the bigger purpose matters more than free time for now.

Besides the number of relationships that may reduce in time, you’ll have to sacrifice certain feelings. For example, being a part of a dedicated love relationship takes a lot of energy and time. You can’t expect to grow a multi-million dollar business while spending 5 hours/day with your girlfriend.

5. Lots of Tough Decisions

Across your journey to success, you’ll have to make a lot of decisions. Some of them might turn out to be irrelevant, while some might turn out to be critical. Many successful people have ended up broke because of one decision. Just one and you’re done.

Being successful often puts the responsibility on your shoulders, and when this factor kicks in, life seems to become even more stressful. Unfortunately, you’ll have to deal with it and find ways to adapt.

6. Everything’s on You

That’s right. Everything’s that happening falls on you, and you can not avoid this responsibility. Success often means tough choices, challenges, and different sacrifices. There’s no mommy, no boss, no no-one. You’re on all your own, and you have to make it work.

When problems kick in, you have to find the solutions on your own, and you’ll have to assume responsibility for everything.

7. You Must Be Adaptable and Flexible

If you truly want to succeed, and even if you do, you must be extremely flexible. Life never turns out exactly how we imagine. Things go crazy sometimes, and we must find the way through. Adaptability to the marketplace; that’s what this is all about.

If in today’s marketplace, a certain service or product is required, or a certain promotion strategy works…things will definitely look different in five years. Successful people always know that they must flow as the marketplace’s flowing.

Conclusion

Success is never easy. No matter what standards of success you have, do not expect it to immediately show up. Success takes hard and smart work and a certain amount of commitment and will.

Figure out whether your version of success is really going to make you feel fulfilled. If you believe it, then it’s probably going to happen. Remember: never be ignorant and always assess what you’re doing. If it doesn’t bring positive feelings, stop doing it at all!