If You Want to Be More Successful, Do This One Thing in Your Life

More success is a matter of making more sacrifices

I am not sure if I consider myself successful, but I have had what I like to think of as successes in my life:

• Seven self-published books
• Courses on Udemy
• Two stints at two of the big four firms (Deloitte and EY)
• Happy family and happy life

Many of you might think, wow you are successful (thank you). And others might think, yeah, I’ve had more successes than you (I’m happy for your success). I don’t share this to brag, but to give you some context to what I think might make me more successful. For example, I would consider myself more successful if I:

• Could put ‘NY Times best-selling author’ on my books
• Had several online courses making four or five-figure incomes
• Have several sources of income, including a YouTube channel, multiple side projects in flight, and book deals
• Being able to spend a significant amount of time with my family

And you might say, Wang, these are within your reach, why aren’t you more successful?

My friends, happiness, achievement, money, promotion, reward, love, and anything else of value are gained only through sacrifice. Enjoy making sacrifices. They lead to success. — David Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Success

It’s a matter of making sacrifices

Look at the success stories of the most successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, athletes, or billionaires out there. Or look at the most successful people around you: the CEO of your company, directors and managers above you, or neighbours working for themselves. What do they have in common?

You might say such traits as perseverance, discipline, courage, fearlessness, grit, intelligence, creativity, or another such trait. I don’t disagree with any of these answers. But I know the one thing all the individuals above have in common is they had to make some sacrifices to get to where they were.

Hey look, you had to too, even if you didn’t realize it. That university degree didn’t come without nights and weekends of studying. Or working a part-time job to pay for tuition. That partner and family you have didn’t come without going on lots of bad dates and awkward meals. Some of these sacrifices are the ‘norm’ — everybody does it so you don’t see them as being sacrifices per see.

But you don’t want what everyone else has, right? You want more. And if you want more, then what are you going to sacrifice to get it?

The type of sacrifices you can make

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill outlines the six steps to defining a goal for yourself:

1. Set a specific target in mind (don’t say I want more money, say how much you want)
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give for what you desire
3. Establish a definite date for when you intend to get what you desire
4. Create a definite plan and begin at once
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of what you want, what you intend to give, the date, and the plan to get it.
6. Read your written goal out loud twice every day

And here, I want to point your attention to #2 because I believe it’s not highlighted enough. What exactly are you going to give for what you desire?

• If you want more money, what exactly are you going to give? Work more hours? Provide additional customer service? Invest time or money in educating and improving yourself?
• If you want to start a business, what will you give up? Weekends? Hanging out with friends? TV time?
• If you want a bigger house, what sacrifices will you have to make? Being tied longer to a mortgage? Doing projects to earn money on the side?

I think it is important to note that while the major sacrifices are usually time and money, you can often trade one for the other. Want to start a business but don’t have the time? You can buy an existing business with most (or all) of the work is already done for you. Or if you don’t have enough money to buy that bigger house, you can trade your time, knowledge, or skills for money.

So what’s really holding me back? And how do I move forward?

I think what’s really holding me back is not the sacrifice itself, but knowing I have to make the sacrifice. For example, I know what sacrifices I have to make to become a NY Times best-selling author, but I just won’t make them. And I know what I have to give up to get a YouTube channel going, but a part of me doesn’t want to give it up.

The first step is in identifying what’s holding me back. The next step is identifying ways forward. So how do I move forward, knowing what’s holding me back?

It all depends on the sacrifices I need to make:

• If I don’t have the money to do something, it means I need to put in what Mark Cuban on Shark Tank says the ‘sweat equity’. That might mean waking up early, sleeping late, giving up TV time, saying no to other things in my life.
• If I don’t have the time to do something (and assume I don’t have the money), then I have to be creative. Can I trade my skills with other freelancers to get things done? Can I use my network to help me (partnering with someone)? Can processes and tasks be automated using software?

Final thought

Looking at where you are now, did you think you were going to be more successful several years ago? What sacrifices (and let’s be honest, you’ve made some sacrifices) have you made? Could it be that the reason you haven’t been more successful is that you haven’t been willing to make more sacrifices? What will you give up to be more successful?