The Secret's Out

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” - Colin Powell

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything you did was a guaranteed instant success? Wouldn’t it be great if you never had to trouble yourself with those tiresome plans and goals? Or what if everything you ever wanted was as simple as just talking about it? What if you were perfect and never made mistakes?

Yeah, and if If’s and But’s were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas. At least, that’s what I tell my kids. Harsh, huh?

Sorry to break it to you (yet again!) but there are no secrets to success folks. So stop wasting your precious time looking for the proverbial Silver Bullet or Magic Wand. Stop wasting your time looking for shortcuts and use that time in a productive manner by actually working towards something instead of trying to beat the system.

You gotta remember that the system exists for a reason. It separates the Have’s and Have Not’s from the Will’s and Will Not’s. You don’t ever just “Have” something. You gotta expend the energy to get something. For example, if I want to have financial security for my future, I need to make the decision to save my money instead of spending it. If I am not willing to do this, then I will not have the financial security I so desire.

The opposite also holds true in my little theory here. You don’t just “Have Not”. If financial security is something you have not, then consider that your decisions have led you to this result. You didn’t get separated from the rest of humanity, doomed to an existence of no choice. Nope. You actually decided your fate when you were willing to spend your money on more junk you didn’t need instead of saving ten bucks. Again, you will not have that financial security because you were not willing to do the work required.

And what is so bad about hard work anyway? I see so many people spending more time, energy and resources to find shortcuts as opposed to just doing the work necessary to obtain a little success. They’re so clever at finding work-around’s but ask them to just roll up their sleeves and get to work and they are reduced to a four-year old who cries when they have to pick up their toys.

If success was so easy, then nobody would be successful. You gotta have losers in order to have winners. So too, we gotta have failures in order to have successes. Otherwise it’s all just the same. There’d be no need to have the will to do more or be more than the other guy. God may have created us all equally, but we get to decide if we will be better than the rest.

There just aren’t any secrets to success. Go ahead and search all you want for the quick and easy way, but it will only end up being a distraction from the real keys to success; Hard work, planning and learning from your mistakes. Better to invest your time in the proven methods than to waste your time on another gift-wrapped box of B.S.