Three Reasons You Must Succeed
Wesley Wiley | Husband, Father, Coach
Both of my grandfathers smoked.
One of them died of a heart attack when I was four, and I essentially never got to know him. The other overcame his addiction and I was privileged to know him well into my twenties. He pursued success that mattered (in the area of his health) and his success had an impact on my life.
Success does not just happen. Success is the result of specific goals, coupled with daily effort towards those goals. Success is rarely easy and rarely just happens. To be blunt, success is hard work.
Yet success matters. It’s worth it. And you must be successful.
Three Reasons You Have To Succeed
1. You Matter
When I was in my early twenties a good friend of mine committed suicide. Suicide is a complicated issue, but one of the causes of suicide is an overwhelming belief that your life doesn’t matter. If you’ve ever felt that way, just go to the funeral of someone who committed suicide. Watch the grief of the survivors and you’ll never again doubt that your life matters.
You’ll never understand on this side of eternity the impact that your life has on others. You matter. And because YOU matter, your success in life matters.
2. You Were Made In The Image of God
Whoa Wesley…don’t get weird on me. Well, too late, I’m going there, I have to. According to the bible, you were created in the image of God. You bear his image. And God has never failed. God is always successful! And you are created in his image, in the image of the Always-Successful One.
God probably defines success a lot differently than we do, but it’s an interesting thought that we’re made in the image of the one who is always successful isn’t it?
3. There Are People Tied To Your Success
How many lives were affected by Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press? How many lives saved by Fleming’s discovery of penicillin? Where would our country be if Lincoln had stopped pursuing success after his many personal and public failures?
This is the biggest reason why you must be successful. Ultimately this life is more about what you do for others than what you do for yourself. If you stop fighting for your potential, and concede to the average life, you will never know the mark you could have had on the world. Worse yet, there are countless numbers of people who’s lives are unchanged because you failed to push past your boundaries and pursue success that matters.
You matter. You bear the image of the God who never fails, and there are people who need you to succeed. You must succeed, you were not created to be average. That’s not who you are. Stop playing small. Stop believing your life doesn’t matter. Dream big my friends and swing for the fence.
-Wesley
Comments: How are you tempted to play small in life?
