“The more I practice the luckier I get”
People often remark that I am so lucky to live the life that I do – a life with a good job, good relationships, and full of exciting experiences and travel. This statement irritates me to no end. It is as if everything in my life has been handed to me on a silver platter. And when I respond that luck has nothing to do with the life that I lead, that it is all down to working hard and working smart, people look at me like I have just kicked their cat across the room. As if the mere mention of “hard work” is a gross insult on them and their entire existence. It is a strange phenomenon to observe such a reaction. Why is it that the concept, “working hard and working smart leads to success”, is such a difficult one for people to grasp?
The bottom line is this: If you work hard; work with passion, determination, and enthusiasm; and work towards clearly defined goals; then there is no reason for not being able to live the life that you want to live. The problem is, many people sit around and wait for their life to improve without taking any active steps towards their goals. It is the lottery mentality – one day I will win the lottery and my life will be amazing. But, you do not end up winning the lottery and your life continues to be mired in mediocrity. Sitting on the couch dreaming of a better life will not change anything unless you are prepared to get off the couch and work towards creating that better life.
Take a long hard look at your life right now. Can you honestly say that you are doing everything you can to work towards creating your dream life?
- What kind of life do you want to live? The first step to creating your dream life is to have a clear idea what that life looks like. How much money do you want? What kind of job do you want? Are you more interested in travelling or building a home for your family? The more clear you are as to the life you want, the easier you will find motivation to bring that life into existence.
- How hard are you working? If you are simply putting in the 9-5 shift and then going home and watching TV then you will not move beyond where you currently are. There is a saying that I have become particularly fond of these last few months and that is that “sleep is for people who are broke”. People who are determined to achieve a particular goal, or create a particular lifestyle, will often forgo sleep in order to succeed. Now, this is an extreme example – sleep is a wonderful thing, but this leads on to the next point.
- You have to be prepared to sacrifice things now in order to create the life that you want. Only, you cannot view this step as a sacrifice. Giving up sleep is, on one hand a sacrifice, yet on the other it is a way to get more out of every day. I passed on a lot of sleep whilst I was at University, sometimes going days on end with only 1-2 hours rest in order to get through the work that needed to be done. Was I going above and beyond what was required? Yes. But graduating with Honours made it all worthwhile in the long run.
- You will know by now that I am a firm believer in doing more than the bare minimum. If you want to level up your life, focus on improving 1% each and every day. There is always something extra that you can be doing to improve yourself and every 1% you improve will take you closer to your dream life.
In the developed world, everyone has the potential to life the life that they want to if they have the determination and drive to work hard and work smart. Most of the people who tell me I am lucky do so because they want desperately to believe the excuse that the reason their life sucks is because they are not lucky. Ultimately, most are simply lazy. I have worked damn hard to create the life that I live, and I am nowhere near where I want my life to ultimately be. Even now, it is a work in progress and I am committed to improving 1% each and every day. This is why I am writing a LLM Thesis this year, why I am currently learning 2 languages, and why I have cut back on my spending these last 6 months to build a savings fund and pay down my debt.
I am writing this post at 2am. What are you doing to create your dream life?
