Quote/Thought of the week: Embrace your fiery refining process if you want to emerge like the purest gold, in your career. #RolandRayKangong
Are goals hard to achieve?
There is a popular saying that nothing good comes easy. Have you heard it before? I bet you have. Does the adage in any way suggest that goals easily attained aren’t necessarily good? Maybe. Maybe not.
Good, precious resources such as gold and other minerals are hidden deep inside the earth’s crust. You need effort and specialized skills to get to gold deposits. So, your very precious goals in life require arduous work and commitment to achieve. Think about it.
It is easier to give up running the 100m dash at the Olympics than to actually train for four years to run the less than 10 seconds required to win the Olympic gold. Again, you may enroll in the marines but as the going gets tough, quitting is as easy as just walking away. It is much easier to sit in a plane and sip a drink and snore away than learn to fly the plane yourself. See?
The easy way out: is it a way to your goals?
Isn’t it quite an easy thing to abandon some activity that is becoming a headache to you? It is an easier option than actually getting the work done. Haven’t you told yourself that maybe you made a mistake trying to do something, simply because it is becoming difficult to do? Yes. Then, you would quit. The easy way out. Is it right?
Think about your life. In my blog posts, I always ask you to look back in your life. The reason is usually to help you recognize goals you once had, but abandoned because of ‘logical’ reasons why you’d have been unable to achieve them.
Most people, including you and I, have a tendency to choose the easy way out, always. Some of you even believe it is due to some divine factor if you run away from an activity that looks difficult and successfully complete one that is fairly easy to accomplish anyway. However, it is the right thing to do?
Cooking, for example, is strenuous and takes time, therefore you prefer drive-through meal options. Walking is difficult (am surprised) so you drive to the nearby shopping centre that is 200m away from your house. Physics is difficult so you abandon your engineering course. Maths in difficult so you abandon that course with a demanding mathematics component.
So, is the easy way out the right way, even if you have set goals you want to achieve?
Reflect!
I want you to take a moment and watch the video below (Note: click the link on this video that says “Watch on YouTube”, to watch the video). Watch it to the very end. It is just a few minutes long.
A young American girl, in her quest for an Olympic gold medal that would become the very first Olympic gold medal in the history of that sport in the USA, sprinted and performed her act with a twisted knee. She landed on one leg. She could not even put down the affected leg. And she won gold for her country. Kerri Strug refused to take the easy way out. After all, she was injured, so why still compete? But, she did. And she won!
So what? You may ask…
Now, here is the thing. Take a moment to reflect on the video you have just watched. Is this your approach to work and life? Could the avoidance of pain and the quest for the easy way out be reasons you might be struggling to reach your goals? Think about the number of times you have actually abandoned projects you really wanted to work on; just because the process appeared difficult.
I know people who quit courses at varsity because the course was ‘difficult’. There are many unfortunate and sad stories of suicides that were committed because the victims were faced with difficult situations. So, is killing oneself the right thing to do? Is that act indeed an easy way out; and if it is, what good does it accomplish? Think about it.
Do this!
Again, how did you truly feel after watching the video above? Have you ever been so determined to achieve a goal in your life that you were willing to embrace and endure pain, just so that you achieve it?
Right now, do this. Take a notebook and a pen. Write down all your goals that appear impossible to achieve for this or that reason (you know better). Write down your vision (Habakkuk 2:2-3). Read it. Read it again. And again.
With dogged determination, cross the river of doubt and discouragement. Then, burn the bridge, if you know what I mean. And, move forward. It is your life, and your decisions.
Determine to win. Do not ever forget that life rewards those who take the initiative to make things happen. How? By writing down your vision and making up your mind to achieve it. Life has no reward for positive thinkers who want to wait and see what tomorrow will bring. That’s dangerous thinking.
Therefore, it is indeed time to let your light shine (Isaiah 60:1). The world is waiting for your impact. What are you going to do?
My books (a course on self-discovery and self-development for career success) Do Yourself a Favor. Get Up! and Move! and its Study Guide are available on Amazon.com. Click here.
Visit: https://rolandrayk.com for useful resources.
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A truly inspirational story. The video demonstrates the “adage ” No pain no gain.
Thanks for the encouragement!! I will continue to practice goals setting/acting on and not give up