Once upon a time in a not so far away land and time, I was living in Taiwan. Also known as the land of convenience stores, amazing food, and Pokemon Go everywhere you go. But mostly convenience. I used to think that America was a Convenience King, but I was proven wrong. Taiwan is the King of Convenience.
On nearly every single corner throughout any city of any size or scale, there’s a 7/11, Family Mart, or OK Mart. It was insane. It was pretty much the same as seeing McDonald’s throughout America. The best part of it was just how much stuff you could buy at 7/11. I used to see ladies buying microwavable dinners and disposable underwear together at the cashier. Or one time I saw a man buy laundry detergent and a pack of cigarettes. It was incredible!
But convenience isn’t all that great. Let me explain.
I’m going to paint a scenario. You’re invited to this once in a lifetime opportunity, the chance to meet someone who is willing to show you how to succeed and make oodles and oodles of money just like he did, doing exactly the same thing he did. And it’s free. But it’s two hours away, lasts three or more hours, which would put you home at one in the morning, knowing that you have to wake up by five to get ready for work. So, the question is, what do you do?
Do you go to the meeting? Or do you find an excuse (other than the generally accepted “I have work during the meeting” or “someone in my family is in danger/gravely ill” or others) and not show up?
While you all have your answers dancing and swimming around in your head, I can tell you one thing that I have come to realize in the last couple of years: nothing–absolutely nothing–worth having in life is ever convenient to you.
I’m talking about goals. Those sorts of things are usually not at all convenient. Call it what you want: sacrifices, trade-offs, etc. Either way, there are costs to achieving more than you presently have. All it takes is one decision. One choice that can only be made when you accept that where you are is not where you wanna be, and the only thing standing in the way of you getting to where they wanna be is you.
So next time something seems to take a little bit more effort than other tasks, think about the possibilities. Think about what could be. Think about how satisfied you’ll feel when it’s accomplished. Set aside those reservations, take a look in the mirror, and see all that you want. And then go out there every day and act as if you already have it. Make decisions to get there, no matter how inconvenient they may seem at the time, because success never happens because of convenience. It occurs because of hard work, consistency, and patience.
