“That will be $1.47 for the bag of chips, please.” said the convenience store clerk.
“Oh sure. Here you go, $1.47 exactly.” said the nervous customer.
“So… are you going to pay for that box of Success that you’re hiding under your jacket?” asked the clerk.
“Wha?… ha… ha! Oh! This box? Haha… I uh… I uh forgot that I put that there. Honestly, I was going to pay for it.” Blurted the nervous customer.
“Ok no problem, you can pay for it now.” said the clerk genially.
“I uh, *cough*, don’t have my wallet on me, I can’t exactly pay for it right now.”
“Ok that’s fine, you can put it down and come back when you have the money.”
“Ah, ehhh, yeah you caught me, I don’t have the money.” The customer gulped hard.
“That’s ok, very few people actually have that much money to be able to purchase Success upfront. Some people take out a loan, some people pay for it in other ways.”
“Other ways? What other ways are there?”
“Oh, well, you could work for it. But I have to warn you, it’s going to be hard.”
“Hard? How hard?”
“Well you’ll have to put in effort, your best effort actually, each and every day.”
“My best effort? Every day? For how long?”
“Let me think… probably for 6 months straight if you want it fast, but most people take 10 years to get it.”
“10 years??? I can’t afford that!” shouted the customer incredulously.
“Well like I said, you could do it in 6 months. And you don’t have to have Success. You could just live with the lower model, Mediocrity. It’s much cheaper. You don’t have to put in your best effort, you don’t have to do it each day, and you can get results much quicker; results in as little as one day!”
“Hmmm haw… actually I can’t get Mediocrity. See, I have this Big Project I’m working on. I’ve tried Mediocrity for years and my Big Project isn’t getting any closer to finishing. I’ve made basically no progress since starting.”
“Ok. Success it is, sir. I will put this on layaway and see you again in 6 months!”
Lessons:
- Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.
- Don’t try to “hack” your way to success. It takes hard work. You have to grind it out.
- Exceptional results require exceptional effort.
- Intention doesn’t pay the bills; it doesn’t pay rent and it doesn’t buy success.
- Have a big project in mind, and don’t settle for less.
- Shoot for the stars. Think bigger than most people. Be ready to take on large risk and commitment.