Are you willing to pay the price to get what you want?
Every great accomplishment in life requires a sacrifice.
This is a great question to ask yourself every time you want something. The greater the goal or desire, the more you'll likely have to sacrifice. We want to obtain, but we don't want to give up what is precious to us: our relationships, our time, our money, our thinking power and our energy.
Give, then take. Plant, then harvest. Invest, then sell. Pain, then gain. Learn, then grow.
But what is your definition of Sacrifice?
Without sacrifice neither gain nor fulfillment will suffice.
Dr. Kevin Ham
My mentor Bob Proctor defined sacrifice as giving up something of lesser value now for something of greater value later. That really struck me. I would also add something for the greater good. We should think not only about the physical and financial world but also about matters of the soul and spirit.
The greater the value or good that you desire to create, the greater the sacrifice you must be willing to make.
For what would you sell all that you have? For what would you sacrifice your life? More importantly, for who? For country, for family, for love, for money? And, I stress, for health.
We often forget the important stuff in our busy lives and exchange them for tangible things. We focus on what rather than who, on money rather than meaning. It's hard to discern the sacrifices in life where we trade time for money. As we get older and time seems to be more limited, like the remaining sands in an hourglass, we start to focus on purpose, meaning, and people.
For what would you sell all that you have?
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matthew 13:44
Just imagine all your possessions. For what or who would you sell all that you have? Oskar Schlinder anguished over why he didn't sell his car and his ring to save more people during the Holocaust. A gold ring was gifted to him by the Jewish people he saved in his factory. They inscribed, "Whoever saves one life saves the entire world."
We often hear of entrepreneurs who put everything they have into their businesses. We forget that we do this quite often for our families. We make big sacrifices for our faith. We pay 30-50% of our income to our country. We have soldiers who dedicate their lives to our country.
The fear of loss is greater than the joy of gain
We fear loss so much because we define ourselves by what we have and not by who we are.
Dr. Kevin Ham
We focus on our fears and our losses instead of having faith in that which we hold dear and seek. This stems from our desire to survive and not lose our lives. We define our lives by the things we obtain, and such loss feels like we are losing a bit of ourselves. This gives rise to the endowment effect, a cognitive bias that makes us value things we own much higher than what others would value them at.
We accumulate and dream of acquiring so much that it will not matter how much we lose because we have so much. This has been my philosophy since I was young--make much more than I will ever lose.
But there are only 3000 billionaires in the world. They have as many problems as you do. They may have physical luxuries, but those only soothe the body and not the soul or the spirit.
Even if you accumulated all the world's riches to your heart's desire, you would conclude, as King Solomon did in his writings in the book of Ecclesiastes, that all is vanity and striving after the wind. He is touted to have been the richest king in history. Have a read of it? Pure wisdom.
I ask myself, "Why am I so ambitious?" It stems from my fear of poverty since I grew up poor, the church's constant need for money for missions and my desire to make my father proud, as he always strove to live the Canadian dream.
I hope that I can say like Job, "Naked I came into this world and naked I shall go. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away."
Live your life and trade things for those of lasting value. Live in the hearts of people. If you trade your time for money, use your time in the service of people to light them up and put a smile in their hearts. Though they may not remember your name, they will remember you.
If you wish to find and live your Magnum Opus, walk the path set before you. You know which fork in the road to take deep in your heart.
Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.
Leo Tolstoy
Life Question:
For what or who would you sell all that you have?
We often forget what and who is truly important as life flies by.
Dr. Kevin Ham
Write the Top 5 Most Important Whats and the Who's down in priority.
Send them a written note, email or text expressing how important they are to you.
Do something that shows it, though things can never truly express the love in your heart.
Next week:
The Seven Great Lacks that Limit Your Greatness
What you lack is faith and hope, not lack of anything at all.
See you next Thursday!
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