Success is a prize which comes with a price. At the start of a success journey, there is excitement and readiness to pay the minimum price to get what we want. But as life builds and the journey acquires its own momentum and complexity – unique for every individual – the price that gets extracted is undefined and at times ‘discriminative’ too. Some people just ‘seem’ to get what they want at a much ‘lesser’ price than some others.
The drama of life is beset with stories of people who had to struggle much harder to receive much lesser than what they had aspired for. It seems unfair that some should simply receive the best far more seamlessly than many others. There are no right and wrong answers for this phenomenon, but life never promised anybody anything at the start of the journey.
It is a cliche that success is a journey and not a destination, but the timeless value of this tenet is such that it stares at you vehemently every time we slip up and start comparing our lives with others. We are all on this planet together for our own unique reasons – to explore life in a manner that is intricately designed for each one of us. The success journey is an alibi to simply discover ourselves. As they say, success is not so much about what you get, but what you become in the process.
Is there a script already written above and we are simply in the process to manifest what is destined? Maybe yes, maybe not. The beauty of life though lies in the ignorance of the design, if any. Outcomes are destination motivated, whereas if success be seen fundamentally as a journey, what counts is the process, not the outcome. Yet, the contradiction we need to live with is that when someone becomes successful, the achievement is an outcome, and not simply an acknowledgement of the process. In the practical world, triers are at best admired, not rewarded.
Therefore, staying rooted in the process – what we call as Control The Controllable (CTC) – and not be bothered by when the desired results would arrive – is a physical-mental-emotional challenge. The joy of participating in the process with great engagement is a daily fulfilment, as compared to arriving at a destination, which fills us with momentary satisfaction, as the next destination now awaits. Every successful sportsperson or movie star knows that winning a match or a film being a hit is just fleeting pleasure as the success juggernaut itself will stop if the journey is not resumed.
So, when seen from this perspective, enjoying the journey itself is the prize. But along the way, there is a price to be paid at various stages. The biggest price is comfort, as no person has ever become successful – however sparingly – without sacrificing comfort – however momentarily. The ability to keep paying the price is what continuously sets you up to keep scaling the success ladder.
Comfort and success share a dichotomous relationship. They never go together. But success and happiness share a symbiotic relationship. More important than success is how the journey makes us feel. Do we feel happy despite being uncomfortable in the journey? The good part of the deal is that we can define the kind and level of price we want to pay. If success takes away our health, happiness and peace and erodes the relationships that mean the most to us, then the price may not be worth it. If the success we aspire for fills us with a sense of happiness and contentment, with all other critical areas standing, then it may be worth the effort.
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The price we pay for the prize may be voluntary and involuntary too. Some we may be ready to pay, while some are extracted by life from us. The suspense that accompanies a journey is thrilling and adventurous. Given that the success journey is a continuous one, it is life’s greatest adventure, as results are never guaranteed. Yet, life demands a guarantee in terms of the efforts we are ready to put in.
In a way, success is a hope, and we pay the price for our aspirations in the hope that we will make it. Thus, seen from this broad philosophical lens, true success lies in our ability to control the controllable consistently and passionately and be able to get out of bed every morning to do the things that fulfils us from within.
Success thus is a daily affair. If you paid the right price today for the right prize, and thereby slept well, rest assured you are Successful – at least for Today.
(Hariharan Iyer is a seasoned Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer and Author of multiple management books. He is the Founder-Creator of Hariharan’s School Of Success Education (HSSE) - www.thehsse.com. He is popularly referred to as The Enter-Trainer®. He can be reached on hariharan@thehsse.com).
