Hello and welcome,
And today's word is the word sacrifice.
What are you willing to give up in order to gain something greater in the future?
Sacrifice is often the price of success,
Happiness and fulfilment,
And while it may seem like a loss in the present moment,
Choosing to sacrifice short-term pleasures for long-term rewards is one of the most powerful decisions you can make,
In particular if you're wanting to live your absolute best life.
Sacrifice is at the heart of every major achievement,
And whether it's athletic training for a marathon,
Or entrepreneurs investing everything into their dream vision of the future,
Or parents dedicating themselves to raising their children well,
Or perhaps just getting fit and healthy,
Sacrifice is necessary for that growth.
The ability to delay gratification and stay committed to a higher purpose sets the truly successful apart,
And when we look over history we can see a few nice examples there,
Nelson Mandela being one that I like to refer to occasionally.
He was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting against apartheid in South Africa,
And he sacrificed his personal freedom for the greater cause of justice.
He was not willing to be manipulated.
His endurance led to the end of apartheid and his election as the country's first black president,
But perhaps more than anything,
He's known as a true inspiration for resilience,
For sacrifice,
For integrity,
For really believing and sticking with what he believed in in life.
Marie Curie,
The pioneering scientist devoted her life to researching radioactivity,
Often working in harsh conditions with limited resources.
She sacrificed personal comforts and even her health to advance scientific knowledge,
Ultimately winning two Nobel Prizes.
And I ask myself today,
Looking back on the time in which she was working,
What other sacrifices did she make?
Did she lose friends?
Was it difficult for her in society at the time when she was working?
It was predominantly a very male-oriented environment when we look at science and medicine.
What sacrifices did she have to make on an everyday level?
And then we have Elon Musk,
Very present day.
He sacrificed financial security and personal time for reinvesting all his money into Tesla and SpaceX when both companies at the time were on the verge of collapse.
His risk-taking and unwavering belief in innovation have since reshaped entire industries and there's no success would have been made had he not been willing to sacrifice on some level.
Now,
Stanford University came up with what's known as the Marshmallow Test,
Which showed that children who could delay gratification,
Which is a form of sacrifice,
Were far more successful later on in life.
And it's interesting to do such a test with children.
And it's quite fascinating,
Isn't it,
To ask ourselves as adults,
Where would we weaken?
Where would we run back to our comfort zone rather than stick out a momentary discomfort for a greater gain?
Now,
Neuroscientific research suggests that self-control and sacrifice are both linked to increased activity in the prefrontal cortex,
The part of the brain responsible for long-term planning.
And I suppose it makes sense,
Doesn't it?
And people who practice delayed gratification often report higher levels of life satisfaction and overall happiness.
Partly,
I think,
Because it takes a certain amount of self-control.
And when I make choices about what I'm going to think about,
How I'm going to behave,
And for what reasons,
It's really a sense of huge empowerment.
And I think that's where people who get used to making sacrifices for long-term goals really start eventually to get a real kick out of it,
Because they know the future benefits and they know who's in charge,
And that's they themselves.
So three actions for this session.
Number one,
I'd like you to identify one habit or distraction to eliminate in favor of a bigger goal that you may have.
Number two,
Set a long-term vision for yourself and remind yourself daily of what you are working towards.
And the big question throughout the day with many things that we may be doing is,
Is this getting me closer to my big dream or further away?
And that can apply to behaviors,
Thoughts,
Mindsets,
Friendships,
Interactions,
All sorts of different things.
And number three,
Practice self-discipline in just small ways,
Such as skipping social media in place of focusing on personal growth,
Or taking a certain unhealthy food out of your diet for a while and replacing it by something colorful and healthy.
Small things will build up,
And as we get used to those small sacrifices and the mindset that comes with it,
And the empowerment that comes with it,
We can take on bigger and bigger sacrifices as feels suitable for our personal goal that we have in the future.
And today we're going to end with a quotation from one of my absolute true favorites,
Napoleon Hill,
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice.
