Lately it feels as though everyone around me is demotivated and settling for the easy life. People are not accomplishing what they desire, struggling with personal and business issues. Their diet is not working. They are struggling to find their life partners. They are demotivated. And the most common statement about their dilemma: “I tried but nothing seems to work any more”, or “why work so hard?”
I believe the No 1 enemy of success is feeling comfortable with the way things are and refusing to try harder or explore other options. When I have two days in a row with nothing to do or to achieve, I worry because I do not want to get used to that feeling. I do not want to feel comfortable in the current situation. I’ve often read that success comes from being placed in an uncomfortable situation or new situations where you can challenge yourself.
Some of my business owner friends complain that sales are down because the market is bad. While, yes, in some instances the market is a major factor, in many others it is not. The reason other businesses succeed over their counterparts is because their owners put in that extra effort. The main cause in many cases is probably because you are not putting the work in, but people do not realise it.
They are the reason things are not working out the way they want them to. And this is where my friends ask me: “OK, so what should we do?” I answer their question honestly by saying: “Try harder” but for some reason many people tend to tune out when you encourage them to work harder. I do not know if they are lazy or simply too comfortable with the way things are.
Let us look at it this way. When you go to a bookshop, there are hundreds of publications telling you how to better your business, how to expand it, how to market your product and how to increase your profits. But the bottom line, coming from someone who has read countless books on the matter, is that none of these tomes would be any use if I did not put in the extra effort, and worked with all my heart on my business or idea. Your sales will not multiply if you are just sitting with your friends at a cafe and complaining about how nothing works out.
Trying to lose weight is the same and that is why we see so many opting to go under the knife and have liposuction rather than exercising. People want the cure, but do not want to know anything about the process. They want results and they want them fast.
Work is no different. I‘ve had colleagues who have complained about not being promoted for years. “I come to work every day at 8am and stay for the full working hours, and yet I have not received the promotion I deserve, when others have come after me and climbed the career ladder faster,” they say. Yes, people can work long hours, but are they really working hard? There is a difference between working a lot and working hard.
I was once like that. I worked long hours, but not as hard as I do now, and I used to complain about things not turning out the way I wanted them to. Then I took a different approach. I worked harder, my whole life shifted and the things I wanted came faster.
I worked on my discipline; I mastered time management, prioritisation and figuring out when my energy level was at its highest. I did not allow myself to get too comfortable, and always tried even harder when things did not work out.
Achieving one’s goals is not hard. Believe it or not, success is easy but it does require that extra effort. If it didn’t, then everyone would be successful.
So, put in that extra effort; just add a pinch more every time, and you will wonder why you had not tried sooner.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer based in Abu Dhabi. Follow her on Twitter: @manar_alhinai
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