With Easter weekend comes a time to be with family, friends and usually a lot of chocolate. Whether or not you’ve been schooled with the Christian story that Easter carries, its a great message for all of us and Darren Hardy reminded me of this with his Good Friday video. He reminded us that as terrible as “Good Friday” was (the day Jesus was crucified), it had to happen for us to get the joy of Easter. In other words, the ultimate sacrifice was made in order to deliver salvation.
Whilst this post is not here to preach, I did want to share the analogy that Darren Hardy was making because it’s a powerful one – and that’s the analogy of the Easter story with the journey of success, and the shared parallel of sacrifice. As he put it, ‘sacrifice is good, because as painful and terrible as it is, it has to happen for you to get the joy of success’.
Life experience has shown us that there is no silver bullet. You cannot achieve success without sacrifice. To get the muscles of an athlete it requires massive amounts of discipline, careful diet and consistent training. To build up a property business that pays you handsomely it takes working on your mindset, educating yourself and taking massive and consistent action. It takes sacrificing other things in life, saying no to other choices.
This brilliant quote from James Allen (author of ‘As a Man Thinketh’) sums it up-
“There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice. Success will be in the measure that one sacrifices.”
There are two other strong reminders we can draw out of this Easter weekend:
#1 take the time to acknowledge, celebrate and appreciate the people in your life who have made sacrifices for you. All those who have nurtured and supported you to be who you are today have no doubt sacrificed something to contribute to what you are now, it might be family, teachers, coaches, mentors…you fill in the blanks.
#2 Think about your own resurrection this Sunday. What’s your version, your new lease of life to move forward with? The changing of the seasons is a great queue and a metaphor to jumpstart certain things for yourself. Brighter, earlier mornings are great for some early exercise and longer daylight hours are great for productivity. Think about your habits, your schedule and how you can re-energise your actions towards your 2019 goals.
I listened to a Peter Voogd podcast this week where he shared 3 things that all elite performers do. Here’s a quick summary that might inspire your ‘resurrection’:
#1 They protect their mind
– this relates to what they put in their mind and who they let in around them
-a big part of protecting their mind is by having a powerful morning routine, because a morning routine either sets you up for an amazing and productive day, or just another day. If you ‘guard the door of your mind’ and do the toughest things first, the rest of the day is easier. If you don’t you will just be reacting and won’t be in control. [HINT – think about when you switch your phone on and let your mind get bombarded with messages and notifications. The minute that happens, whose agenda are you really on?]
#2 They get active and increase the strength of their body
-’when you’re stronger physically, you are stronger mentally’
-being active can be anything from walking through to high intensity workouts, do something that works for you to be active in the morning at least 5 days a week. It will help you be more focused and resourceful in your work day.
#3 They reach out to people, or have a circle of influence/advisory board that help them level up and play the game at a higher level
-this links right back in with point one about protecting your mind by having the right kind of people around you
-surround yourself with people that help you think bigger and give you the belief that will help to keep taking big action and making those necessary sacrifices along the never journey towards success.
Where do you need to pay the price of sacrifice more in order to obtain the promise you seek?