Excellence. In any field of endeavor, excellence requires intense commitment. To go beyond the comfortable, go beyond the convenient. To sacrifice, to push one’s limits.
To suffer.
For a distance runner, it’s the legs and lungs screaming pain. For a mountaineer, it’s the shattering cold and crushing fatigue. For an entrepreneur, it’s the endless hours, constant financial pressure, and maddening uncertainty.
Oddly, many who excel don’t simply endure the suffering, they are drawn to it. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, first to the South Pole, referring to the explorers who had gone before him said, “A strange ambition burned within me to endure those same sufferings.”
Why suffer? Because it takes us to the far reaches of self-definition. It reinforces our image of who we are or who we want to be. It sets us apart from the pack. It makes us stronger. It allows us that rare opportunity to seize the prize.
You say you are committed. But are you willing to pay the price of commitment? People with lesser capabilities and fewer opportunities have achieved greater things than you. Why? Commitment.
How hard are you willing to push? How much are you willing to suffer?
Your thoughts?
Michael
Why Every Leader Should Suffer
