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In the grand scheme of things, the journey toward success is often a long and winding road filled with hard work, commitment, and the willingness to pay the ultimate price for your dreams. While many might see successful people’s glittering achievements and think it all comes easy, they’ve often invested much time and effort to create great things. Whether in business development, real estate, or a personal passion project, navigating through the ups and downs takes many extra hours and devotion. Warren Buffett once said that the best way to make money is to invest in yourself, and this journey requires not only knowledge and experience but also the right mindset. So, as we dive into this blog post, let’s explore the various facets of success—what it truly demands and why the price of ambition can be hard to pay.
1. Longer hours of work
I intentionally didn’t write ‘long night’ because I believe you can be successful and have a healthy sleeping schedule at the same time. In fact, based on studies on the effects of insufficient sleep, we might be more likely to succeed if we avoid working long nights.
Regardless of the specific time, to attain success, you will have to work more than most people.
I’m sure that doesn’t shock you, and yet it is one of those prices that so few people are willing to pay for the success they want. They might start strong while still fueled with motivation and inspiration, but as the weeks and months drag on, putting in the same amount of grueling work when nobody is forcing you to do such a thing will eventually make them crack.
2. Uncertainty
Another significant price you have to pay if you want to be wildly successful is the uncertainty of it. Nobody can guarantee you success. Certain ways make success highly likely, but in the end, there is always a bit of uncertainty about whether this will work out the way you want.
That uncertainty can take a significant toll on your peace of mind, especially during the hard times when things aren’t progressing the way you want them to. By contrast, following the 9-to-5 lifestyle provides you with much more safety. Never ultimate security, of course; it seems you could be laid off if your firm isn’t doing so well, or a war could hit your country. But it still doesn’t leave you guessing what I should do next and whether I am doing this right the way more unusual paths do.
3. Missing out
As mentioned before, creating a successful life requires working longer hours than most people. It also means spending your money differently than your agemates. That means missing out on things other people your age are doing. While your friends seem to take vacation after vacation, you stay home, save money, and work. Your friends might go to parties and sleep around while you get a good night’s sleep for a productive day ahead. They might use their pay raise to afford a flashy car while you invest money in funds or courses.
You get the point; a lot of missing out is happening, which can be hard to stomach. FOMO is real, and it sucks.
4. Judgement
With great success comes more visibility. Suddenly, people you have never met are interested in what you do and who you are. To some people, that sounds like a dream. Finally, you are a very important person. However, the dream dies a very swift death once the criticism and overall judgment start to trickle in. And it will trickle in because no matter how kind and unproblematic you are, there are always at least some haters out there.
5. Failures
Successful people take bigger leaps of faith, which inevitably results in more failures than they’d have gotten had they played it safe. Learning how to handle failures is a price of success. The good news is that you can get better at it with practice.
6. Delayed gratification
Building a business or pursuing higher education won’t give you instant gratification. Quite the opposite, it will often take years before you get to reap the rewards of your labor. The same goes for finances. While many broke people splurge on cars, vacations, food, and clothes, racking up credit card debt along the way, the more ambitious keep driving their old cars and skip out on vacations and outings so that their money can compound in the long term.
7. Having everyone declare ‘you are so lucky’
As soon as you start being more successful than the people around you, you will start hearing things like how lucky or talented you are. That is infuriating because you most likely had to put in some actual effort, and people seem to disregard that entirely. It’s always easy in hindsight to say that someone’s success was obvious.
However, I’d also like to point out that you are somewhat lucky. As the famous quote goes: Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Yes, you did all the hard work of being prepared and keeping an eye out for opportunities. But you should always remember that it was pure luck that you were presented with this specific opportunity at the perfect time. Don’t turn into one of those arrogant people who claim that their success has absolutely nothing to do with chance. But as soon as something doesn’t go according to plan, it isn’t them; it’s just bad luck. Everything that happens in life is at least partially down to luck. That doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of the hand you’ve had in it.
8. Never being satisfied
Successful people have come as far as they have by always striving for more and never settling for what they already have. This drive, while useful, can quickly turn into a problem. If never settling turns into never being satisfied and celebrating your wins, you will live an outwardly successful albeit innerly miserable life.
This constant struggle to appreciate what we have and not to chase the next goal is one of the prices many successful people have to pay.
9. Incapable of relaxing
Many of us have optimized our lives to be as productive as possible on the path to success. We have the perfect morning and evening routines, use the Pomodoro method and time blocking in between, and do nothing without a good reason.
Sounds like a good thing, right? Well, humans aren’t meant to live like a well-oiled machine. A life well lived comes in phases, including downtimes for relaxation. The price of success can be the inability to do things just because we enjoy them. Walking in nature happens because we know it will give our brain a perfect rest period without distractions that would stand in the way of our next work session. Going to the gym happens because we know that our life#s quality falls to the level of our health. Talking with friends becomes a source of inspiration, which we can then turn into new content. And on and on it goes. We count our steps, the hours we spend in different stages of sleep, our heart rate, our strength, the time we spend productively or the time we procrastinate, our screen time, etc.
Ultimately, pursuing a life filled with success and fulfillment is not just about accumulating wealth or achieving the highest social status; it’s about valuing the journey and the lessons learned along the way. The most important thing is to recognize that every step—whether a triumph or a setback—contributes to our growth as human beings. As William James put it, the sum of small efforts propels us toward greatness. Sure, there might be high prices and some hard decisions, but embracing these challenges will shape a better version of ourselves. So, whether you’re investing in the stock market, exploring new projects, or just trying to find your fit body during this long haul, remember that success is best viewed as a marathon, not a sprint. In the words of Roy T. Bennett, keep pushing yourself and surround yourself with the right people. After all, the good life is worth every moment, every effort, and every little bit of hard work you put into it.
