People look at successful people and see only the success, not the hard work, not the years of sacrifice, not the losses, not the risk, and none of the challenges it took to achieve the success.
It‘s an easy trap to fall into.
It’s happened in this thread.
Don‘t fall into that trap.
It’s important to avoid it because it allows you to rationalize giving up. Falling into the trap of that thinking allows you to take the easy path, that spirals down into debt and failure, instead of continuing to work hard and overcoming the inevitable failures and setbacks that every successful person faces.
My favorite story, from a bro (former fighter pilot, now business owner) who was struggling to put his real estate business together at the same time he was getting out of the Navy.
“Joe” was living in a cheap condo, having rented his house to save money because their cash flow was tight. His wife was in the hospital, undergoing surgery for a brain tumor.
He had several properties that were between tenants. Mortgages were due.
He was about to default because he didn’t have the cash.
While she was still hospitalized, he sold his wife’s brand new Jeep Cherokee (they had paid cash), took the cash, covered the mortgages, and bought a crappy, used sky blue Ford Taurus with 100,000 miles on it so they would have a car.
When he picked up his wife at the hospital, through the drugs, confusion of brain surgery, and the pain, she looked up at him from her wheelchair and asked, “Honey, where’s my Jeep?”
That was 26 years ago. Joe and his wife still have that house. It’s been rented again, because they have a multi million dollar house in an exclusive area of South Carolina, a condo in Miami, and several successful businesses.
It’s easy to look at their success and be envious.
Unless you know just what risks, and sacrifices, they made to get there.
Don’t be envious.
It’s a poison that blocks your own path to success.