Success is not an easy thing to achieve
Does this sound familiar?
Admit it…
Success may seem to be an easy thing to achieve as we are exposed to a lot of successful people who seemed to have made it big easy.
However, it actually takes a lot of hard work and being uncomfortable to achieve it.
Just like Biz Stone says,
“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success”
Indeed…
Hard work and being uncomfortable will make one successful.
Check this out:
Hard Work and Being Subjected to Living Uncomfortably Makes Sense to Achieve Success
That’s right!
We know that most successful people, as lucky as they may seem, worked hard to be where they are now.
They’ve even been in the most uncomfortable situations in order to achieve what they want.
Even the Yerkes Dodson Law states that when we experience physiological or mental arousal (caused by stress) to a certain point, we are able to achieve optimum performance.
The study found out that when mice were subjected to mild electrical shock, they were able to complete a maze.
This study was also related to performance of athletes.
When they are subjected to the right amount of stress, they were able to perform their best.
How Hard Work and Being Uncomfortable Made These People Successful
So, yes…
Many of the most successful entrepreneurs have achieved success through hard work and experiencing the most difficult times.
Here we have found some of the most successful people who went through these and achieved massive success:
Chris Gardner, CEO of Garner Rich
Is one successful entrepreneur who literally went through the most difficult times in his life personally before he got his first break.
Yes, it’s true!
He experienced homelessness, being broke, going through a difficult relationship and taking care of his toddler while he was under the Dean Witter Reynolds training program.
Despite his personal struggles, he passed the training and was then offered to become a broker at Bear Stearns where he became a top earner. He eventually founded Gardner Rich.
And the rest they say, is history.
John Paul DeJoria, an American entrepreneur, billionaire and philanthropist
Was born into poverty and also experienced homelessness when he was younger.
When he was 11, he helped support his family by selling newspapers just to get by.
While he was was able to join the US Navy, he still struggled to make ends meet taking all kinds of odd jobs (like pumping gasoline, working as a janitor).
But here’s the rub…
He became salesman of the year by selling Collier’s encyclopedias.
Eventually, he met Paul Mitchell while working as a district manager for a hair company.
The two became good friends and teamed up to create a hair products company, John Paul Mitchell Systems.
He went on to found several companies, establish charitable organizations and even received multiple awards and honors for his success and causes.
Do Won Chang, Founder of Forever 21
He was not a very successful immigrant coming to the US.
What’s more is that…
He worked many odd jobs as coffee shop attendant, janitor, and a gasoline attendant when he first arrived in the country.
It was while he was working as in a gasoline station that he noticed that business people who work in retail had the nicest cars.
That when it hits him
Determined to establish a business of his own, he and his wife worked really hard.
Until they were able to save $11,000 and created a 900 square foot shop called Fashion 21.
Today, Do Won Chang and his wife has a combined net worth of $3B.
Still not convinced?
Look at this…
Uncomfortable Things That Lead to Success
Let us take a look into the lives of the most successful people and find out the uncomfortable things that made them successful.
Asking People
It can be very uncomfortable to ask people.
Too true…
It lays our guard down and needs humility to do so.
However, it is only by asking that we learn and are able to get something we want.
Chris Gardner, for one, asked a man with a Red Ferrari what he does and how he does it, and he did get an answer.
With that simple question, he started his journey to success and became a stockbroker himself.
Focusing on the Goal Instead of the Challenges
Get it?
For Do Won Chang, he had several challenges being an immigrant in the US.
It seemed impossible for someone who was not that privileged to become a successful businessman without money to use as capital.
He, however, overcame the odds and was able to save money despite having to work more than 2 shifts just to earn and save money for his business.
By now you’ll be wondering
Want to see how it works right now?
So here it is:
Accepting Failure and Turning Them Around
Failures can cripple us and make us paralyzed.
Failures can be the greatest uncomfortable situation we can be in.
Thats all true!
However, it is learning through failure that made some of the most successful people who they are now.
Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post’s greatest learning was not being rejected by 36 publishers;
She learned her greatest lesson by losing the California governor post when she ran in the 2003 elections.
The $1M they used for campaign back then was only raised online.
She realized the power of the internet at the time and started the Huffington post with co-founder Ken Lerer.
Taking Risks
It sounds simple. But it isn’t.
It can be very uncomfortable to risk everything you’ve got in order to pursue something with an unknown future.
Nonetheless, many successful people took the greatest risks in order to achieve what they really want in life.
One of them is Elon Musk, who co-founded PayPal, and then he took another risk by investing $100M from in order to start SpaceX.
He admits to not having any knowledge or experience in design and the aerospace business, but he still pursued and eventually earned a $1.6B contract with NASA for SpaceX in 2008.
Being Open to New Ideas
By now you’ll have realized,
A new idea is always uncomfortable, but it’s the new ideas that actually lead to success.
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, came up with a new idea of making women look and feel better with a great idea of creating shape-wear for women.
She could have just discarded her ridiculous idea (as her idea has been rejected many times already).
And just got stuck with her job since she was already a successful salesperson, nonetheless, she made her great idea into a billion dollar business!
Going through difficult times, being in uncomfortable situations, and working hard can really make one successful.
It is the character that is developed and the learning experiences from these situations that become the greatest factors to success.
Success may not be overnight, but it would definitely make one achieve it!
But the bottom line is this…
If you want to be successful, immerse yourself in hard work and do not worry if you are in uncomfortable situations.
So give it a go
Trust me. You’ll be glad you did.
