Easy doesn’t necessarily mean easy
When we talk of reducing complexity in our lives we are obviously in pursuit of a scenario that is easier than what we have right now. We’re looking for simplicity most of all, to find a ‘place’ where the path ahead is clearer and there are less forks in the road to confuse us. Successful people know that this path doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges along the way, they’re not looking for ‘easy’ so much as clarity, so they can then charge forward and make their dreams a reality.
Clarity feeds conviction
If you’re going to make any particular scenario yours, to the point that you become an authority on the subject, you need a big dose of conviction – you have to totally believe that the path you have chosen is the right one – and that takes courage. Conviction only comes when you have absolute clarity about the path ahead, free of any doubts that might cloud your ambition, and it also borrows from experience.
You can’t focus without conviction
Yet finding conviction isn’t ‘easy’, it’s often not a simple process. We must expose ourselves to our vulnerability (a scary thought for most) and stick to our guns when others doubt us. Perhaps above all else it means we aim at being really good at what we do at the expense of popularity. I learnt a long time ago that if you want to stand for something, you have to be prepared to let something go.
Sacrifice means saying no
Some professions get this more than others. For example, financial planners are the architects of what an ‘easy’ life could look like. They know that denying ourselves some things now means we can prepare ourselves for these things in the future. This is an important question – are we willing to let things go in preparation for growth when human nature demands we have to have what we want, now? Of course that’s usually not desirable and so we make our lives more complex in the pursuit of having it all, and ‘easy’ goes out the window.
If you want to grow, ask yourself, what does ‘easy’ mean for you?
Rod Buchecker
Rod Buchecker is an expert in helping people find what they need to focus on in order to be successful.