The Secret to Success

 I live a life that great movies are made of.

Before you brush this off as bragging, keep in mind movies are only great when they’re filled with drama, chaos and unpleasant emotion.

Then, of course, the main protagonist needs to be able to overcome all of that in order to successfully reach his or her goals — but then again, that’s only if we’re watching a success story.

It’s true: The most successful individuals in the world have the most messed up stories. It’s not that they’re looking for trouble, but pursuing the things they are pursuing in life puts them in some unordinary situations.

But the truth is, if you never allow yourself to be found in such situations, you’re not trying hard enough to make it big in life.

That’s just what happens when the vultures and hyenas get wind of your smaller successes and do their best to steal and/or prevent any future ones.

No one has such insane stories as the most successful do. Here’s why:

Whenever you do the irregular, you need to expect the unexpected.

What’s the likelihood of you doing the same thing day in and day out and having adventure find you? Slim to none.

Sure, life will throw stuff at us from time to time, but repeating your life day in and day out will almost certainly lead to a regular, monotonous existence — an existence not story-worthy.

The reason successful individuals have such crazy stories to tell is because they do things they had never tried before or even imagined themselves doing or attempting to do.

When you try your hand on the irregular, on something different, maybe even something most individuals fear attempting, then you will create some incredible stories. You cannot find the unexpected if you do what’s expected.

There will always be someone trying to rob you of your success.

Not all people are bad. Most people aren’t great, but they’re not bad people. There are, however, a sufficient amount of assh*les, lowlifes, thieves and criminals out there to make your life more difficult — but, at the same time, more interesting.

No story is a good story without an antagonist, an arch-villain, bad guy. In the world we live in today, we’re often more than enough to ruin our own plans and hold us back, but when you’re aiming for greatness, great pieces of sh*t will try and rain on your parade.

The biggest attempts most often lead to the most epic failures.

Success stories are only as grand as the failures that lead up to them.

Without an epic loss, you can’t have an epic win. The more times you try to do that which most people are either afraid to attempt or simply aren’t willing to sacrifice for, the more times you’re going to land on your face and eat dirt.

But learning to take the hits is the only way to wear out your opponents and make it to the final round in which you knock those Idiots out.

Every time you fail, you create a new story to tell while, at the same time, making the grand story of your life that much more interesting.

No one suffers for greatness unless he or she has a good reason to.

No one gets up one day and decides he or she is going to take on the world for the hell of it — no one.

People aren’t built to do things because they feel like doing them, because they want to do them. People only put themselves in such situations — elect to suffer — if they have sufficient reason to do so.

This is why doing something for the money is never enough; money is not a sufficient motivator.

Growing up poor, never having enough, always wanting and needing more, that’s motivation. Not an extra few zeros at the end of your bank account.

Only those who have suffered will elect to continue suffering so they can make their lives epic. Why? Because they don’t fear suffering. They’ve experienced suffering and understand it. Most importantly, they can handle it.

A life of success will, on occasion, force you to make f*cked up decisions.

And messed up decisions make for messed up stories. It’s easy to make the right decision when the right decision is evident.

If you have to choose between

A, flowers and butterflies

or

B, pain and suffering,

the choice is easy to make. But when both option A and option B suck, when no matter what you choose, you or those you care for lose, things become more difficult.

The right decision isn’t always evident, and even when it is, it isn’t always easy to make. When you are going to lose no matter what you decide to do, the decision won’t be easy.

The result won’t be pleasant. But, one day, the story will be one worth telling.