#39 Achievement Demands Sacrifice, But You’re Sacrificing The Wrong Stuff

hey guys this is Greg Denning and you are in the school of awesome sauce where I share with you Amazing Stories and strategies to help you live an extraordinary

[Music] life hey hey my friends welcome to another episode I was sitting there reading and I've been reading from so many great books recently it's so fun I'm always reading four or five books at a time and actually that's a that's a it's actually been proven to be a great strategy for learning if you're reading multiple things you just kind of switch back and forth but I've been reading so many great books and I I came across an idea and I'm coming across constantly uh the lives of great men and women uh or and here's here's what we're going to talk about today or men and women who have accomplished great great things but unfortunately made sacrifices that compromised themselves but in in this reading I came across this idea many years ago and I came across it again and I want to share with you because it it's so powerful we literally cannot accomplish anything there can be no achievement no progress no great accomplishment without sacrifice that's that's the principle that's the lesson right there there can be no accomplishment or achievement without sacrifice and that's because we all have a few things that are limited like thought for one I mean think about it your if your thoughts and your attention and your focus you can't have unlimited Focus even like it just goes against the whole idea of focus focus means you narrow in on one thing right and priority that that that's the the root of that word the whole definition of that word is a priority it's like something goes above all the rest and it's ironic that we we live in this world we like you should have 17 priorities right like well that that that goes against the definition of priority you can't you can't have multiple priorities a priority is is your first thing right now we can have a list of the most important things and we can prioritize them right where they kind of list them in order but again at the end of the day my friends you got you got the things that are most important and the things that are not and we have limited time every one of us has been given this wonderful wonderful gift of 24 hours a day the sun comes up and we get a chance to prove to ourselves and to others and to the world what is it that really matters to us and we prove our priorities with our actions we prove our beliefs with our actions and we prove what we're going to accomplish by what we sacrifice and so because there are a few of those things that are are limited like we've got we've got to choose what what what's going to go I remember one time um a a thinker author leader that I was reading compared you know the 24 hours and and our limits there to he he compared it to a pig trough and he's like you got this trough and it's limited there's only there's literally only so much space you only have 24 hours you can only do so much you are one person you can only be in one place at a time and in your mind can only focus psychologists tell us that our thoughts our mind can only focus on one thought at a time which which is why multitasking is often kind of a a misconception we think we can focus on several things at once or think about a few things at once and we just we really can't and so it's often distracted and ineffective so we want to now obviously all right obviously some of you are like hey come on now I can listen to an audiobook while I run or clean the house and I do the same thing so yeah there's a few things like that but but we can't focus on multiple things at once and really be effective at it the point is my friends we've got to make sacrifices if we're going to achieve great things then we have to make sacrifices so I I think there's two thoughts here that we all have to carefully consider like what is it we really really want to accomplish or achieve when I sit down with you all around the world and I ask those kind of questions people settle back in their minds and really start to ask the hard questions like kind of like deathbed questions like at the end of your life when you're looking back at your life what will really have mattered and it's almost always the things that matter most when you have that clear perspective is relationships right what kind of relationships I've built with my family and close friends and what kind of contribution have I made to the world and I think perhaps the most important one is who have I become who am I even even above accomplishments or achievements or Awards or Rewards or you know certificates and positions and titles above all of those things is who are you who have you become and if you believe in the life after this one which I sure do the only things we take with us is is Who We Are it's the things we've learned and the skills we've gained and and who we've become in this beautiful journey of life and so we we've got to ask ourselves okay what is it that's most important to me what do I want to spend my time and efforts and energy and focus what do what am I going after what do I want to achieve what do I want to accomplish and then in those things you there's always an exchange rate I've been teaching this principle for years and I just love it it's so powerful it resonates so true in our hearts and our souls and our minds like there's an exchange rate on everything so does what you want everything has a cost everything has an exchange rate it's going to cost you time it's going to cost you resources it's going to cost you focus and attention and sacrifice you're going to have to sacrifice something everything in your life is like that and so you have to ask yourself is it worth the exchange rate is it worth the cost to me the sacrifice I have to make and then here's where the biggest problem is can I I want to just like scream and yell and I wish if we were together like ah come on I I want to just sound this warning to everybody everywhere there can be no accomplishment and no achievement without sacrifice but the greatest problem I see again and again and again and throughout history I see this okay not not just today but I literally see it throughout history as I'm reading our autobiographies and biographies and learning about men and women and the things they've accomplished I've noticed this thing again and again and again and in my own files here here's how I've done it right in my own files I have a very short list of the people who I I see as both good and great and here's how I Define that there are so many people who have accomplished great things but very often in seeking to accomplish great things they have sacrificed the wrong things to accomplish it does that make sense kind of want to let that sink in there if it's true that there can be no accomplishment and no achievement without sacrifice then we have to make sure that it's worth the sacrifice and that we sacrifice the right things and yes my friends I will be so bold to say there are wrong things to sacrifice let me give you some examples so and here's a case right where you're going out to achieve something great and maybe it is a great thing and maybe it's a great cause because we know we all know there's there's things we could pursue that are not worth it but let's say let's assume that it is a good thing and and it's a good cause and it's worth making sacrifices for but then we see men and women who sacrifice their values they literally compromise their values and these are good people like the good people you and me like they're not necessarily inherently evil or malicious or terrible but in order to achieve something they end up sacrificing their own values their own

standards to get some kind of accomplishment or achievement may I please with you never not for anything never sacrifice your values remember this great line from a man for all seasons it's Thomas Moore um when he was you know King Henry VII was just oh my goodness he would sacrifice every who knows if the guy even had values or standards he was sacrificing everything to get what he wanted and murdering people murdering his own wives I mean the guy was out of his mind but anyways there's a line in there where I think it's Cromwell don't don't hold me to that please I think it's Cromwell that does something basically sacrifices his values and his standards and his morals to get a position in Wales and Thomas Moore says to him you know he's quoting the Scripture it says what of what what does it profit

you if you were to get the whole world but sell your own soul right and Thomas Moore says to him you know what does it profit you he he quotes that saying what would it profit you if you gained the whole world but lost your soul and then he says to him but for whales for whales implying you sacrificed your soul you sold your soul for whales for a position for an

appointment for a for a title for a job for a certain salary for a certain status among Society is this starting to sink in here my friends for Wales and so we never sacrifice our values what a other things we should never sacrifice that I've seen again and again and again throughout history and I see it today people sacrifice their

health and and you guys what is life if you don't have your health if you sacrifice your own body which is your vehicle for life in order to accomplish something what what like what good is it to have accomplished it if you have no Health you can't enjoy it what can you enjoy how like all the money in the world does you no good if you can't if you're not help healthy enough to do it like all these great achievements all the great wonders and you're lying there miserable and dying and you can't even get out and enjoy life because you're so unhealthy don't sacrifice your health I see people sacrifice their families again we come back to that question okay so you achieve this great thing you get this status you you do this this special accomplishment whatever it is to you but you sacrificed your family to get it and that with whom will you

celebrate the crowds of the crowds of people who after they're done celebrating go back to their families and to whom do you return you with me like that's something that you never sacrifice you don't sacrifice your family your spirituality your own spiritual journey if you lose that and you lose this deep meaning and purpose and this grounding this this inner Compass this connection to God to to the spirit if you sacrifice that you're left floundering and

lost you get what I'm saying here so like we can't again I come back to the main principle every accomplishment every achievement will require some kind of sacrifice James Allen said uh he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly right and so it's almost it's measured by the meas the level of your attainment is in alignment with the level of sacrifice the more sacrifice you put in the more reward you can get out but again my warning here to all of us is make sure you do not sacrifice the wrong things and so then what is it we do sacrifice what is it we can give up what is it we can sacrifice in order to chain because we want to achieve right we we all come born with it and this is why I always say reach upward you've heard me say this many times I always say reach upward reach upward it comes from this poem by Harry Kemp he says chief of all thy wondrous works oh God Supreme of all thy plan thou has placed an upward reach into the heart of man we we all have this longing desire to reach upward to reach and grow and improve and and Achieve and accomplish we want it it's in your heart I I know that you want that in fact the fact that you're listening to this you you have this drive this desire this passion you want to achieve and do so what is it then if we're going to achieve and accomplish things what is it then we do sacrifice what can we give up what get what can go in fact we're we're going to say what has to go right there's a a few things that have got to go my friends they've got to go number one is our insatiable desire for entertainment if you're going to sacrifice something sacrifice that now man I love to have fun and we should have fun and life should be an absolute blast and I'm I'm of the opinion that you know we can turn our work even good hard tough uncomfortable work can be fun and can even be entertaining learning learning to me is one of the most entertaining things even when I'm trying to learn difficult things I love entertaining entertainment through learning I love the learning but just endlessly watching TV and junk and and these things that that aren't helping us and anything that's I call it it's frothy or frivolous right and and I love those words like frothy and frivolous it's just the the froth is the foamy stuff on top it has no substance like it's just the it's the bubbles there's really nothing there there's no substance it looks like substance but it's not and that's that's froth anything is frivolous it's superficial it's shallow it's it's really meaningless there's there's not a whole lot there it's like it's like food that has no nutritional value right and there's there's books like like that and there's music like that and there's conversations like that unfortunately there's there's like social interaction like that and there movies like that of course I mean all this stuff all this entertainment is it if it's if it's frothy and frivolous for me I I want it to have zero no part in my life at all absolutely no way and you're like what about just for enjoying entertainment can't you just ever relax once in a while and just be entertained and not be driven all the time and and for me I'm like there are so many like countless great books that are also so entertaining and great movies and music that is so entertaining but also has life lessons and value and goodness and they're edifying that there's just no reason to watch trash or listen to trash or read trash because there are so many great books and and great media there's so much great media out there there's no need and so sacrifice the frivolous sacrifice the froth and sacrifice this this constant need for entertainment and let's work on ourselves so many of so many good people don't get the results they want because they're spending their life seeking entertainment and they're not willing to sacrifice that Co what else can we sacrifice we can sacrifice our selfishness we can sacrifice our laziness uh this is with all the love I got friends I'm going to say it a lot of you are seriously lazy and you like not me I'm not lazy uh let's take a real honest look at ourselves myself included here take a real honest look at ourselves and and how often are we lazy we we get what's called somebody's called the DRS a Dr be doing something else right you get the DRS where you know you could step it up you know you could use your time better your energy better your focus better you know you could go to the next level and you're like I don't feel like it and it's this I don't feel like it that gets us um we slip into mediocrity and so we can sacrifice that and we can sacrifice a little sleep right not too much because we all need to sleep well at night and get enough sleep but you know like Edison says Thomas Edison said that you know sleep is lack a drug and you get too much of it and you get you start getting groggy and a lot of us oversleep ironically or sleep poorly we can sacrifice screen time uh average American spending several hours a day just on a screen and and not always for good purposes so if you just find yourself scrolling endlessly or watching silly videos or just doing nothing or blank stare at the wall and not really thinking sacrifice that sacrifice is wasted time and downtime time in procrastination you want to sacrifice something sacrifice procrastination take action get results do things and if you don't if you don't feel like it take action if if you're waiting around for the motivation to come just get disciplined discipline will get things done friends like turn it on like sometime sometimes you just feel super motivated to do it sometimes you just have to make yourself do it sacrifice your doubts sacrifice your fears sacrifice your insecurities and boldly move in the direction of your

dreams I've yet to meet someone that is just so on top of it that they couldn't make tweaks or improvements and shift those sacrifices and so here's my invitation challenge with just Tons of love here I want you guys to live Absolut extraordinary lives this this is what I do day in and day out like my we have these classes going right now for for parents and classes for youth I've got a bunch more coming up in the fall uh and we I'm just doing them year round so there's always a new session starting and literally this is what we do we go through and we identify the the great goals and then we set out the plans and like the the steps and strategies the tips and techniques like things that actually work to get real results and help us achieve and accomplish sacrifice the right things get our lives just totally aligned where we are feeling alive not just existing not just drifting but alive and achieving and accomplishing we feel fantastic and we're celebrating instead of beating ourselves up for wasting away our lives oh I love this stuff I love this stuff jump in those classes you guys this this is where like coaching and mentoring Mak makes all the difference in the world get in those things that's that's another thing we can sacrifice we can sacrifice money and resources to improve our lives we sacrifice you know the frivolous spending we do we spend so much money on junk and if we took just that i' I've often said this if we took just the money that we waste and put it into the best books or into paying for mentoring or coaching told transform Our Lives totally transform our lives like if you you know take somebody who's smoking for example just just take the exact same amount of money you spent last year on Tobacco and you spent it on phenomenal books we just go real simple tobacco for books what difference would that make in your life Total Transformation and it's true for all of us the amount of money you spend on junk food and fast food and caffeine and candy and garbage and movies and music that's not lifting you up not raising you up not changing your life you look at the lives of great men and women they're not wasting their time on that they're not wasting their money on that junk they're putting it to the right place so that's where we can make sacrifices and I want you to live an extraordinary life this is what I live for so here's my challenge my invitation for all of us so myself included look at what your sacrificing okay look at what you want to accomplish because we come back to the rule if you want to accomplish something or achieve something there is sacrifice required it has to be so then look at what you're doing and say do I want to achieve that is it worth it if it's yes then get really clear about what you're going to sacrifice and what you are not going to sacrifice some of you will realize in this exercise that you've been sacrificing the wrong things and it's got to stop because at the end of the day it's not worth the sacrifice remember whales it's not worth whales it's not worth all the world if you sell your soul and and and Rachel and I my wife Rachel and I we've always lived by that like you know what if we end up not being able to achieve something because we're dedicated to our family so be it Family First our relationship first our family first God first and if if we don't get to those things okay all right might be frustrating might be disappointing but we live by our priorities and so look at look at what you're sacrificing look at me some changes you need to make some sacrifice you need to make and then look at the things that are in your life that you know you need to start sacrificing or where there's some space like you know what I've been spending money on this every month and instead of having buying new clothes every month or getting a new hairo every month or other things that aren't really making it I'll take that same amount of money and put it into coaching or mentoring and watch it transform your life wo so be willing to sacrifice for the things that are worth achieving but always make sure my friends that we are sacrificing the right things in the right way there's a great book by a man who he made huge sacrifices he initially for his family and he kept telling himself this is for my family this is my for my family and he worked 90 hours a week and he ended up making hundreds of millions of dollars just loads and loads of money had tons of businesses still welln ended up even owning a professional sports team and just was super super super wealthy but he ended up dying early as a double amputee with diabetes because he neglected his health and he neglected his family and this is in his own book he dictated a book on his deathbed and essentially he was saying hey look here's here's a cool here's my story but don't do what I did did I neglected my health and now I'm dying I neglected my family and those relationships are still broken as I lay here dying and I neglecting my relationship with God my spirituality and I'm about to go meet him and I'm not ready don't do those things right so let's all of us sacrifice the right things go after it achieve greatness live extraordinary lives so we can be on our own list of people who are good and great who accomplish great things but never sacrifice their goodness and who they are and how they want to live life you guys are awesome love you reach

upward hey everybody thanks so much for listening to this episode I hope you got a lot of value out of it and found some things that you can apply to your life right away hey I'm I'm being totally sincere when I say I I live to help you live your extraordinary life so I hope you'll reach out to me if you have any questions or let me know how I can help you in any important area of your life and in fact you know this this podcast is brought to you by the school of awesome sauce monthly coaching program take advantage of that get in there if it's the best way to get a breakthrough to the next level so you can level up your health your spirituality your emotions your mind your relationships your finances business every part of your life just get in there where you have a a coach and a mentor you have a supportive community to make things happen so so jump in there take advantage of this try it out get in there with us and level up your life see you on the inside reach upward [Music]