Not All of You Will be Successful

That’s great to hear.

Most people won’t do what it takes to be the best.

I love that.

Why? An honest answer, less competition for me. Though, that’s more of a great byproduct of it all.

More importantly, if everyone were able to be the best, there wouldn’t be a “best”. Hard work would be standardized. Success would be expected for everyone regardless if they actually have what it takes.

The reality is that if everyone was achieving everything they wanted to do in life, fighting for the top and never settling for the bottom, there wouldn’t really be a “bottom”.

So now we have no “best”, no “bottom”. Just a Utopian world where everyone achieves everything, where there isn’t just a small population who achieves their dreams or an even smaller handful of people who achieve their wildest dreams.

That’s bad.

The harshness and beauty of life is that it rewards the “best” (though “best” is relative). To be the “best”, you have to put in the best work.

No one with a serious health concern that requires a big surgery is going out there looking for the worst doctor to perform said surgery in their area.

No one is looking for the worst musician to play at their prestigious event.

Everyone is looking for the best within their means. You have no choice but to be the best if you want to go anywhere in life.

I love that, but a lot of people don’t. This doesn’t bother me at all.

The idea that life rewards the best is what keeps the cycle of meaning spinning. If the best weren’t ever recognized as being the best, if hard work didn’t set you apart from others, it all means nothing.

It means that the serious, no-bullshit, intense journey that’s required to change you into something, something that you never fathomed was possible, for your own fulfillment, isn’t special or meaningful. It’s…the norm.

It’s not about recognition or distinguishing yourself. That’s not what I’m saying.

You achieved for yourself and yourself only (hopefully). That’s great, but the recognition, the honors, all of it still matters in that it’s what makes your journey an actual journey (or at least a meaningful one).

Journies lead somewhere. If that somewhere is already here, well…you didn’t “journey” anywhere, did you?

In hindsight, wasn’t the whole point to take a journey? How many successful people have to say “the journey was better than the destination” for you to get it?

Basically, these successful people realized the destination was meaningless, and that the journey, the transformation of yourself, is what was truly…meaningful.

If everyone were capable of such a journey and completed the journey then there isn’t one.

Maybe you still think there is. My response? What a shitty, meaningless journey.

My additional response? That’s not a journey, that’s an errand.

I don’t think a journey, adventure, expedition, or voyage would be considered those things if it wasn’t a meaningful pursuit that changed you for the better and that only a few have accomplished.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to be the only one to have done it. It’s special and meaningful enough that only a rare few have.

However, it isn’t special or meaningful (hey, at least to me) if everyone or the majority was able to and did indeed do it.

If everyone was in the NBA then there wouldn’t be an NBA. There wouldn’t be drafts. There wouldn’t be the admiration of skill.

I think you get the point, let’s continue:

You know what pisses me off?

“Oh, he/she’s so talented.”

Talent? Look here, person, I worked for this. Don’t undermine the work that I’ve put in. I vividly remember when I used to be shit at this, and that sucked.

I vividly remember all of those times I felt like quitting, wondering if I had wasted my life away.

I vividly remember thinking about how stupid and insane I must be. Most people would’ve quit a long time ago.

The beauty of it all is that we can change the version of ourselves that is worthless, unmotivated, weak-minded, and comfortable into a completely different force that achieves what we want to.

Forget the praise. Just think about how great it would be to literally watch yourself transform into something you could only dream of.

The path to huge dreams will require a completely different you. For any of you all who are into this self-help stuff, you know how hard it will be to get where you want to go.

If everyone was able to get where they wanted to go in life, what would be special?

What’s special about that moment that you were finally able to transform your weak mind into a beast that puts in the work that is necessary?

Is there anything to be said for your success if anyone could do it?

Anything you consider a success that you’ve experienced in your life is only that way because not everyone has experienced it. If everyone did, it wouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t be a success. It would be the norm.

Look, I want everyone who reads my articles to get value from it and get themselves to achieve the things they say that they want to achieve.

At the same time, I can live in comfort knowing that not all of you will.

I sincerely hope this changes the lives of anyone who reads this. Pursuing your dreams and achieving things without dying of regret is a life worth living.

At the same time, I know not everyone will read this. Even for those that do, probably 3% of you do anything about it.

Great. Sounds good.

Am I sounding dark? Selfish, perhaps?

Oh well. I simply want my journey to mean something. As does everyone. It means nothing if everyone could and does indeed do it. What’s to be said for putting myself through intense rewiring and sacrifice and faith and oblivion in the sake of “pursuing the dream” and achieving it if everyone did that to themselves?

My “why” has always been:

If I’m not capable, what on Earth am I here for?

The presence of “capability” implies “incapability”.

90% of people are incapable of pursuing their dreams and achieving them. This isn’t due to some physical-altering cause or anything, this is simply due to not being able to get themselves to do it.

Your inability to be the necessary change you need to be to achieve your goals is what creates the belief of “incapability”. If you think you’re incapable then you will be actionless. The good news for those achievers out there is that as long as you believe your incapable, the achiever’s belief in their capability (which moves them to action) means something.

This is super important.

I’m being the way I am right now because I know you all want your life to mean something. Who doesn’t?

Here’s the other beautiful thing though:

We are all capable.

That’s a secret that whether you tell anyone or not, people still won’t believe they are. Or worse, people will believe it but still not do anything about it. Or even worse: everyone will do something about it, granting your hard-earned growth and achievement useless.

Part of the beauty of the success you reach is that not everyone will reach it. That’s special. That means something. That’s extraordinary.

I’m being this way because I want you to know that you deserve it. You so deserve it. You earned it. You earned it all. Not everyone will understand what you’ve endured, that’s also what makes it special.

By all means please do your best to inspire others and lift them up (as I always try to do), but know that it’s impossible to get everyone to live their own lives with intention.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. It simply means the cycle and balance is still there, so you shouldn’t get too bogged down with it all.

After all, there’s lots of wiggle room for everyone: “Best” is relative, “success” is subjective, “meaning” is up for debate; even someone’s idea of a “journey” may be different from mine.

And yet, even with all this wiggle room, people still won’t do anything about it.

As saddening as that is, I wouldn’t want anything else.

What’s worse than a world where tons of people die with the regret of having not tried while only a handful of the population actualizes their dreams?

A meaningless one.

The final beauty of it all is that you get to choose what side you end up on.

You get to decide if this will be the last article or not you read on self-help. If you ever get yourself to do without waiting to be motivated for a few seconds.

You get to decide if you will grind and be resilient and persistent.

You get to decide if you will pursue the unknown without fear.

You get to decide if the pursuit of your dreams will be worth it even if it doesn’t work out.

You get to decide if you will put in the necessary work to guarantee a better, meaningful, and fulfilled life for yourself.

It still may not work out for you, but doing nothing guarantees that it definitely won’t.

What will you believe? Are you capable or incapable? That’s only the first step.

And how wonderful is it for us special few who choose the meaningful path of capability? We are just a few, after all.

Your worth is in your rarity. There’s the divide of incapable vs. capable, but another divide lies within the “capable” mindset of those who believe and those who believe and achieve.

I hope for all of us that believe we are capable achieves our dreams as well, but that’s not how it works.

Even that is what makes it all meaningful. You can choose to not believe and not achieve or believe and still fail. That unknown entity is what scares us.

Will it scare you?

Either way, I’ve made my choice, and I won’t be bothered by yours. Whatever you decide, just know that the balance will always be kept. Whether you work hard or not, it won’t be in vain.