Member-only story
If You Really Wanted to Be Successful, You’d Be Successful
Here’s what’s actually stopping you
“Most people “say” they want to be successful. But if they really wanted to, they’d be successful. I used to tell people, “I wish I played the piano.” Then someone said, “No you don’t. If you did, you’d make the time to practice.” I’ve since stopped saying that, because he was right.” -Benjamin P. Hardy
How many people do you know who say they want to accomplish something, yet their behavior shows the opposite?
That they want to be a writer, but they don’t write. That they want to be a cook, but never cook. That they want to be a world-class athlete, but never train.
The clear truth of today is that many people talk about doing something, but yet never actually that do that something. And interestingly, Austin Kleon has an idea for this, it’s that:
“Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.”
Why? Often because people think that the work is too hard, and that success eludes them, or they might just say they’re “too busy.” But they couldn’t be more wrong.
