4) Freedom is not free. Neither is success.
Accountability means acknowledging the cost and being willing to pay it. Lot’s of people want wealth and success, but by far the majority of people do not want to pay the price. I work with a man who decided to start a business in an attempt to take control of his future. He made the investment in the equipment and truck to operate the business, but he would not quit his day job to ensure the business had the oversight and attention it required to get off the ground. Eventually, he had to fold the business and take a loss on the equipment resale. As a result of the loss, he has ever since been afraid to make the same “mistake” and continues works at a job he does not like and complain that he will never be able to retire.
Two things here:
1 – Think of how many times on Shark Tank there is a pitch from an entrepreneur for a product or invention that the sharks like, but the presenter won’t quit his day job to ensure the success of the business. The sharks are all “out”. They demand 100% of the attention of the entrepreneur if they are going to put their money into something. They demand that the presenter must be willing to “pay the price” of success by risking failure.
2 – Robert Kiyosaki writes at some length in the “Rich Dad” series of book about the fact that most people are more afraid of losing than they are motivated to win. He points out that mistakes (such as the one my associate above made) are not a bad thing, they are in fact a good thing. Once you make a painful mistake, you are very unlikely to make the same mistake again. So, when a plan fails, don’t shrink back into a hole in the ground, understand that one way or another, everyone pays for their education. Some education comes from books, and some comes from experience. A failure is just one step closer to a win.
Everything comes at a cost, whether in time, resources, money or experience. The ONLY price you should not be willing to pay is your health. When you want success enough to pay the price, then and only then will it be within your reach.