From Preston Ely, Mindset Advisor...
I'm going to share one of my biggest, awesomest personal success secrets with you today.
It's not going to feel good.
Let's see if you can handle it.
Everybody knows that success depends a lot on education and action, right?
I mean, while it's super boring to keep saying it over and over again, it's still true that learning the right stuff and doing the right things is what really gets you there in the end. Winning, in business and in life, is for the do-ers and go-getters, and the rest are just dreamers and wanna-be's, God love 'em.
But what about the truly remarkable? What about those who don't just "make it", but make it bigger, bolder and faster than everyone else? What's their edge?
I say it's the way of the warrior.
While the averagely smart go-getter knows the shortest path between two points is a straight line, truly remarkable warriors – the ones you fell asleep learning about in school – know something else: shorter isn't always faster, better or smarter. And knowing which path to follow is what separates historical also-rans from the truly superior warriors.
Which do you want to be?
The Warrior’s Path: Pain Now
Warriors built to survive the rigors of battle aren't made by building impressive upper body strength reaching for Dorito’s, texting friends or punching the channel up button on their remote control.
They do it by getting down in the trenches and doing the hard things nobody else wants to do, the stuff that involves some sweat, and even a few tears from learning first-hand what works and what doesn't – in short, by experiencing pain today in exchange for remarkable achievement down the road.
This lesson isn't about asking you to step forward for your daily dose of pain – if a little pain by itself would do it, a quick, well-placed head shot from a brick would financially set you free. Instead, you have to understand the kinds of pain that will prepare you for victory.
What I’m talking about here is the smart application of pain, life lessons that the average person is too scared, too dumb, too lazy or too undisciplined to learn. And one of the best parallels I can think of is in the realm of weight loss.
Weight Loss Warriors Hold the Secret to Your Success
If you've ever struggled to take off unwanted weight, you already know this: Excess weight volunteers for duty when it’s packed on (one forkful at a time) – and it comes off only when it can find no other way of sticking around.
Pills, potions and other “secret” sauces don’t move you any closer to your goal. In short, your best bet for sustained weight loss is stop eating all that crappy food, stop gorging yourself, hit the gym and work out, and basically do the things that 99% of those who claim they want to lose weight can’t or won’t do.
Genuine weight loss warriors are fairly easy to pick out.
Want to find one? Get up early and venture outside, usually on a bitter cold day when nobody in their right mind would be outside. Or head down to the gym at 7 AM on a holiday weekend when everyone else is still dreaming of sugar plumbs. The weight loss warrior is the one sweating like a pig, often with a look of intense pain etched onto their face.
And the thing that keeps them going? Their eyes are firmly affixed on the prize.
It might be a picture of the new “them”, the one that proves to the world that they've reached their goal. An equally effective tool genuine weight loss warriors use in reaching their goals is the willful infliction of severe emotional pain on themselves – indelibly burning the image of what they might look like if they don’t take these steps to improve their health now. This lights a fire in their bellies that keeps them moving, motivating and pressing ever-closer to their goal, even as they pass by those who have given up along the way.
The Ultimate Warrior’s Success Tip
In the end, genuine warriors understand that anything worth having is worth working for. And this means rushing headlong into anything that scares the heck out of just about everyone else:
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It means not doing what’s easiest, fastest or most convenient;
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It means being willing to get up early, learn something new – even if it means you have to sacrifice short term comfort; and,
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It means being willing to feel the burn of pain as you break down muscles and cells that have never before been used
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It means enduring feeling great pain today, so you can enjoy feeling great health tomorrow.
How This Applies to Real Estate
Stop whining. Here's the dot connecting.
When you’re first cutting your real estate investing teeth, everything seems really hard. Exciting, yes. But also overwhelming, scary and often down right painful.
New techniques, strategies and skills take some time to master. At first, the easiest path seems to be the path of least resistance. But the path of least resistance is failure – and the sidelines of life are filled with millions of people who reach the end of their lives playing “what if” regret games.
But don’t give up before you've gotten started. If you do, any time invested in learning life changing skills will be effort wasted – and will just give disbelieving family members, friends and co-workers the ammunition they need to shoot your dreams down before they’re fully formulated.
If you’re truly serious about reaching the pinnacle of success, it’s crucial that you take the steps today to put yourself into painful situations – the kinds of pain that pay huge dividends as you fully immerse yourself into real estate.
I like the way Jim Rohn put it:
“The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”
Hear My Battle Cry
Unlike a lot of people out there, I refuse to live in denial.
I absolutely will not knowingly put up defense mechanisms to protect myself from what I know to be true about myself, and the world we live in, no matter how much pain this causes me.
And believe me, it causes me a lot of pain. But you simply must realize that everyone will pay this price in pain, either now or later, regardless of whether they live in the truth or not.
Pain now is the way of the Champion… the way of the true warrior.
How does this apply to success in life? Simple.
Every important aspect of your personal life; your spiritual, emotional, financial, physical, and relational life, each one of these things requires a sacrifice in order to achieve wholeness – or as many put it – success.
This sacrifice is so immediately painful that the majority of people choose to lie to themselves in as many different ways as is humanly possible – and we are capable of quite a bit – in order to avoid this.
The consequence is, we begin to live out-of-sync with reality, a delusion. Then we begin to suffer an even greater pain threshold than if we had gotten the suffering out of the way right upfront.
Well, these things are not an option for me because as I explained upfront I am fully committed to the truth.
I want what is real for myself, and so I'm compelled to do the necessary things that truth requires of me, which always leads to success.
Here's my success secret; I choose to suffer now, not later.
That's it. Ask me for one big success secret and that's what I'm giving you.
There are lots of things you do to immerse ourselves into life changing pain – things which will profoundly impact your personal and financial future. But what are you willing to do?
Ask yourself right now:
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What are you willing to do today to embrace pain to ensure an easier, awesomer tomorrow that everyone else envies?
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What bold decisions and risks can you swallow whole right now to prove to yourself that you’re truly serious about reaching your goals? About winning?
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What are you willing to do to keep yourself accountable to pressing forward, even when your pain begins?
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Specifically when will you do this? Today works. Right now comes to mind. Keep in mind, what you put off until tomorrow typically remains undone a week, a month, a year – from now. So if not now, then when?
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Don't just do this in your head. Put it in writing. If it's not written down, then it's not real. And post it in a conspicuous place – on your dresser, your refrigerator, even your significant other’s forehead (use tape, not staples).
The point is, write down the warrior's pain you've decided to take, because it's worth taking, and prominantly display it somewhere. Or better yet, everywhere. Hey, if you aren't being true to enduring pain now for the sake of your dreams, your goals and your aspirations, at least visual daily reminders will shame you into following through – or they’ll scream “quitter” so loudly you’ll be left with no option but to fulfill the promises you made to yourself.
Step into the Warrior's Pain. Are you willing to do what few others are willing to do today, so that you can enjoy what few others are able to enjoy tomorrow?
Preston Ely
is a real estate investor, serial entrepreneur, life coach, musician and philanthropist. CEO of Real Freedom, Inc, one of the most influential internet-based information publishers in the world, owns the largest Anytime Fitness Gym in the United States, is recording a music album with Atlantic Records, sits on the board of Advocates Of Love Orphanage, and has a non-profit charity assisting the poor and oppressed in Cuba with both their physical and spiritual needs.
With over 200,000 subscribers to his email newsletter, he is rapidly fulfilling his mission on earth, which is to glorify God by setting people physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually free through his music and his message of FREEDOM. Preston is 37 years old, lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Ashley, where he spends most of his time reading, writing, and practicing mixed martial arts.