A wise person once told me that you only suffer as much as you want to. This is true in so many ways, and unfortunately people just don't see it. Desire is the fuel that drives action, and contentment is the brake pedal. If you are not acting to change your situation, it is because deep down, no matter how much you claim the contrary, you are content with your current situation. How many times have we been in the middle of something and all of a sudden you feel like you need to answer nature's call? You think to yourself, "oh, I can hold it..it's not that bad" we take action when we don't feel like holding it in anymore. We are content with holding it in until the pain (or the DESIRE to relieve that pain) forces us to act.
All successful people, whether it is a businessman, an athlete, or whatever else has one thing in common. They hate to fail. They hate to lose. It leaves a bitter taste in their mouth. Muhammed Ali once said that only a man who knows what it's like to be defeated can reach deep down in his soul and find the strength to win when the fight is even. Take this one step further. Successful people don't just hate to fail, they hate failure in general. In order to be successful, you must learn to hate failure to the point where you refuse to accept it for yourself, and hate to see it in others, even by your competition. I always want to beat my competition, but I want to beat them by my actions, my progress, and my success, and not by their lack thereof.
The other thing successful people have in common is that they are uncommon. They do what the common people don't do. That includes taking the initiative to wake up early on weekends when they don't have to. Sleeping in accomplishes only one thing. It wastes time that you could be getting something accomplished. Unless you are a 2nd shift worker, pretty much everybody, even successful people, are doing the same thing at 9 pm. They are unwinding, getting ready to shut down for the day. The difference comes in the morning, when some will get up at 6, and take that extra 3 hours while the other guy is still sleeping.
Your success will be defined in the unseen moments. When everyone else is resting, what are you doing? When the other guy says "that's good enough" what will you say?
