NOTHING FOR NOTHING

It was Clarion Chukwura, a Nigerian movie star who mused “Courage and skills are nothing without a worthwhile sacrifice”. Gerald Paul agreed “Great achievement is “always” born of great sacrifice.

The desire to achieve success is universal. The world is full of people who want to succeed. Unfortunately, the mere desire to succeed is not enough to ensure your success. Success requires more than desire. It requires sacrifice. Sacrifice is a foundational requirement on the journey to success. If you want to succeed you must be willing to sacrifice. You have no choice in the matter, it is nothing for nothing. There is nothing “easy” about success. Success requires focused, persistent, and strategic effort. There will be no change, no growth, no progress, and ultimately no success without a commitment to sustained intentional effort. Commitment to sustained intentional effort includes, by necessity, a willingness to sacrifice for success. People don’t fail to succeed, they fail to make the effort to succeed. They fail to sacrifice the things that will stand in their way, deter them from their goals, or hinder them from taking actions. People fail to sacrifice, so they fail to succeed. 
Below is a story of man who gave up everything to create one of the greatest companies in the world.

When approaching his 20s, he left college because he didn't want to spend his parents' money. He became literally homeless for some time. But he didn't care about that. He continued his education. He continued attending the classes he could despite not being an official student. He was eager to continue learning. Here's a quote from him speaking of those days:

"I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.”

In his late teens, in 1971, he met a girl who became his first serious relationship. However, soon the love faded and they drifted apart. Years later, when they met in 1977, they fell in love again. Their relationship was very passionate but it was also a wreck. This is because he had already started his venture. He had changed. As his company grew, so did his obsession with it. As a result he had started neglecting his girlfriend. And that was just the beginning. Soon his girlfriend revealed to him that she was pregnant and that he was the father. He wasn't happy about it and because he wanted to work on the company, he denied he was the father. While already a millionaire himself at the time, he refused to support her girlfriend and their daughter for quite some time, forcing them to live on welfare and doing menial jobs.

But despite how he appeared to others from the outside, inside he was suffering tremendously. Hence why he even attempted to name one of his products after his daughter's name, which he also denied for a while. However, years later he admitted to his biographer when discussing the name of the product:

"Obviously it was named for my daughter."

Along the way, he did many more bad things. He neglected many of his friends, even left one of them with empty hands, he was rude to many people who worked for him. But there's another side to the story, which most people seem to miss. Most people don't have a clue how thin the line is between sanity and madness when you care so much about something succeeding and when you are constantly under such huge amounts of pressure. Most people would have retired after making the first few millions.

All of that pressure is what led him to his biggest sacrifice, which was his health. In 2003, he was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer and many believe that his cancer was strongly related to adrenaline and stress -- and this man, he lived on adrenaline and stress. He worked so hard to make a difference that it wore his body out. And though he initially had his cancer treated, some years later, the cancer relapsed and eventually ended up taking his life.

He gave up his comfort. He gave up his family and friends. He gave up his sanity. He gave up his health. All for a dream. A dream to put a ding in the universe.

This was the man behind Apple and Pixar. This was the man, who revolutionized personal computers, phones, music, animated movies and the way people think about design.

This man, was Steve Jobs.
When you see a successful person, you see them on top of their mountain of success. And it looks really really good. But what you don’t see is how they got there. You don’t see the many sacrifices they had to make to climb that mountain. You don’t recognize the scars. You’re not aware of the pain, hurt, defeats, failures, disappointments, discouragements, sleepless nights, and long hours they endured. You don’t appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears that marked their journey. You have no knowledge of the many sacrifices they had to make on their journey to success.

-      Successful people sacrifice when unsuccessful people will not.

-      Don’t wish for easy success. Instead, aspire to be equal to the challenges that your success journey will bring your way.

-      High-level success requires high-level sacrifice.

Farewell, till I come your way again, Benson Adima remains a motivational Speaker.