Why do some people sail through life easily and without hardship while others have to work so very hard?Are you asking why some people suffer more? Why some are born in abject poverty? Why some must face war and hatred? That is, indeed, eternally inexplicable.
But I think you are getting at something else….
It is a question of how much you want out of life. If you want to achieve more than the average or even above-average person, you will “have to work so very hard.” And there will certainly be more setbacks along the way. They will slow down and eventually stop the others — because of lack of ambition, lack of imagination, lack of energy, or, ultimately, lack of interest — but they won’t stop you.
I have never read a biography of or an interview with a very successful writer, politician, artist, or business person that says anything different. To bastardize a phrase: no one ever said on their deathbed, “I wish I spent less time working for my dreams.”
I want to live an extraordinary life, so I must put in extraordinary effort.
I read this and I just felt the very same way. Growing up my dad told me that I would have to work three times as hard as other people, just to be seen as average. Maybe he was right or maybe that was only true for black people back when he was growing up. But it’s always in my head. I also think that the bar for excellence is not set an equal height for everyone. Why is it that some people pat themselves on the back for making it to some arbitrary point, and others don’t even count that point as an achievement?
The Lakers never put up banners for division titles. For them failure is not winning the championship. While for most franchises, making the playoffs or the conference finals is a moment of note. My ambition and my patience are equally aligned which means that my ultimate goal—the thing I never speak of—is not ever out of my sights. I told myself that I would be very, very good at what I do one day, and I am working on it constantly.
-Vaughn
