Do the work, if you want the reward - it's just that simple | March 19, 2009

A Facebook friend, Stanice Anderson, set her status today as "What I learned in recovery: 'Losers do what they want to do. Winners do what they have to do.'"

I absolutely love it. And I have to say, it's true. Variations of that quote have been said by others. "Do the things today that others won't do, so you can have the things tomorrow that others won't have," finance author and radio show host Dave Ramsey says when he advises people about improving their finances.

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Award-winning actor Denzel Washington is quoted as saying, "Do what you got to do, so you can do what you want to do."

In my own life and work, I can point to doing the "dirty deeds" as one of the keys to my success. I don't mind making the sacrifice today for a future goal. When I made the decision to leave a good newspaper career to become self-employed and build my own writing business, I made sacrifices along the way: I slept in airports on business trips because I couldn't afford the hotel. I shopped at thrift shops because I needed to put as much money as I could into my business. I lived in a tiny apartment and passed up the spur-of-the-moment social outings in favor of spending that time and money in my business.

In chapter 10 of Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets, I say this: "Going for your dream can be messy work. And it can be difficult. And incredibly unglamorous. You've got to be willing to do the messy things. The difficult things. The unglamorous things.

"Often, the early stages of chasing a dream are about grunt work and sacrifice. When we envision our success, this isn't the stuff we dream of."

But it's the stuff we must do to have what we want. Whether that's losing weight, growing a business, building a career, writing a book, nurturing a relationship. In all those cases, there are things we would prefer not to do -- or to skip right over -- but if we don't do them, we can't get the result we want. Take losing weight, for example. Sure, you'd rather sleep in every morning, but you know that getting up an hour early to hit the gym will help get you to the weight or fitness level you want. In the case of writing a book, you may prefer to veg out in front of the TV and let somebody else's creativity lull you to sleep every night, but you know you must put your behind in the seat and let your own creativity spill out onto the computer screen if the book is to be completed. In the case of business, you may prefer to skip right ahead to the success, but you know you've got to do the grunt work first to get to that level.

When we make the sacrifices and focus on our plans, we often get the results we want. In my case, those early sacrifices meant my business eventually grew to one that allowed me to afford the things I had to give up for a while. Today, my life is richer and my business stronger because I wasn't afraid to make the sacrifices.

That is the thing that separates the successful from the wannabes. The successful don't mind the work. Wannabes run away from it.

What about you? Do you have a goal, but you're not quite up to making the sacrifice for it? Why is that? Is the goal not worth it? Or do you think the sacrifice would be too great? If you have a goal that you're not willing to put the work behind, then it's not really a goal, is it? It's more like a fond wish.

Sacrifice doesn't have to last always. It's often a temporary circumstance to get you where you are going. So if the goal is worth it, consider doing the things that others won't do so you can have the things that others won't have.

You'll be glad you did.