If there’s one thing that I can’t stand people saying to me, it’s that I’m “so lucky” to be in the position that I’ve put myself in.
After working tirelessly last year, I no longer have to rely on working a corporate job. This gives me a great amount of flexibility in the hours that I work, the work that I do, how much money I make for myself and most importantly: whereabouts in the world I live.
Last year, I was working 10-12 hour days under a manager that was victimising me simply because he didn’t like me. I tried speaking up, but it only succeeded in plunging me further in the bad books at work. I was going through hell.
After these mentally draining days at work where my social life was taking a massive hit because of the hours I was working, I would get home at 2am and…do some more work. I would finish work, go back home and instead of relaxing, watching TV, playing my PS3 or hanging out with a girl, I would do some more work.
I had a vision for how I wanted to live my life, and I worked hard to make it a reality. My housemate saw the progress I was making and I tried helping him out down the same path, but he would come up with excuses. “I’ve got x to do”, “I haven’t got the time after work”, “If I’m free this weekend, I’ll do it”.
The difference between me and him was that I really wanted it. I wanted to live freely and was prepared to make sacrifices in order to achieve that freedom. He was working less hours per day than me, and yet I was the one who found the time to make serious efforts in improving my working situation.
If you have a goal, you can’t simply wait for it to present itself to you. You can’t just wait for “the right time” to start working at it. That perfect moment will never come. It really boils down to this: sit your ass down and work at it.
That’s all there is to it. There’s no such thing as “I can do this” or “I can’t do this”. What I’ve learned in life is that what a situation boils down to really is “I want this” or “I don’t want this”.
If you want something, you go and get it and you have it. I always laugh when people tell me they’re the kind of person that “when I want something, I go and get it”. Yet they’re living a mediocre life, paying attention to mediocre struggles, and trapped inside a mediocre mind. Of course, if that’s what they actually want and they have it, then I’m wrong here. But, I don’t think anyone doesn’t “want” better.
For most things in life, if your attitude is that you “want” something but you’re not prepared to work for it, you may as well just say “I wish I had that”. That’s how effective you are when you say you desire something but don’t take any action.
If you say you want something, but don’t go for it, then you don’t really want it after all as far as I’m concerned.
That’s the difference between winners and losers. Winners don’t have dreams, they have targets. And they work at making those targets a reality because they want it. If you really, truly desire something, then you will work hard to have it. New job? New car? New lifestyle? You’ll see the short term pain required to achieve the long term gain.
The problem is, many people don’t want to hear about, talk about, or make any effort. What they’ll do instead, as you improve your life, is tell you what I’ve written in the title of the post.
I was catching up with a few people recently, telling them the stories I’ve had from this year so far, and I was told that I was “lucky” for being able to live where I want and see so many places. It really pissed me off.
I told the girl that said it that luck was nothing to do with where I am. I’m the product of hard work and dedication to a target. Calling someone “lucky” for being in a better position than you in life is disrespectful, in my opinion. It takes away all the hard work that you’ve done and you’re simply living a great lifestyle because lady luck was on your side.
I’ll tell you who’s lucky: a prince being born into royalty; a lottery winner; someone being born with good genetics; casino gamblers; a chance meeting with someone valuable to you; and so on.
People will use the word “luck” for the sake of ego-protection. They don’t want to have to admit that if they put in a little bit more work, then they too could have the things that the “lucky” people have. There is no esoteric among us (though there’s certainly a case for royalty) that are just gifted the world and everything that they want. There’s no such thing as privileged positions. Every famous or rich person you see has worked hard to get there. You just see the product of that hard work.
I believe that it would hurt too many people for them to admit “that famous/rich person, I too could have what s/he has if only I could be bothered to work towards it”. As I said, instead, people will hide behind the word “luck”.
I’m not lucky to be able to travel around the world whenever I want. I put myself into this position. You can too if that’s what you really want.
