It is customary to ask teenagers what they want to do as they ‘grow up’. They are often queried on topics such as what car they would like, how they see themselves as sportspersons, how successful they want to be. These are really very simple questions. Not many people want to drive a rusty 1982 Toyota, be a complete failure and unpopular to boot. Everybody wants to drive a Ferrari, be the next Ronaldo and achieve amazing popularity. The question asked should really be ‘how much are you prepared to suffer and what are you going to sacrifice to pursue your goals?’ In these times of instant communications and gratification it is easy to lose sight of the fact that in order to be a success you have to work very hard indeed. Many avoid hard work with an inbuilt avoidance system that can take many forms. ‘I can’t be bothered’, ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I can’t do it’, ‘I don’t have the time’ and so on. A bit of introspection soon shows up the fallacy of these arguments. For example, how do you know that you are not good enough or that you cannot do it if you do not try, giving it all you’ve got? It’s only when the hard work and sacrifices are embraced wholeheartedly and understood as being part and parcel of a personal growing process that the first real steps to self improvement and realisation of goals are achieved.
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