Sacrifice: The Silent Partner Of Success

Conversations about success are abundant. In most of these conversations, many of the drivers of success are often cited such as passion, confidence, intelligence, and drive.

Rarely is sacrifice, or the willingness or ability to make sacrifices, given the attention or credit it deserves. Sacrifice is not a precursor to success, but a prerequisite. Not to be confused with discipline (or its importance), sacrifice is what enables you to exercise discipline. Discipline is about obeying rules and restrictions (set by someone else or yourself). They work in tandem.

Sacrifice means: To surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else. It takes discipline to consistently give up something you want now (like having fun, doing nothing, or spending time with others), for something you will want more, need, appreciate, or value greater in the future. That's why sacrifice is often viewed and spoken of as "an act."

The ability to make sacrifices is not an issue of character, but one of conditioning. Those who have the most discipline are often able to make the greatest sacrifices. This is obvious and well-documented in children who excel in academics, the arts, and sports.

It's not so obvious with adults, but it holds true just the same. Success without sacrifice is nearly impossible. You have to give something up now, to get something you want later. Those who attempt to defy this truism will confront its reality in retrospect, when they look at the success they don't have in the present, and realize what they did not sacrifice in the past in order to get it.