Succeeding Without Sacrificing
You'll often hear from others that the road to success takes making sacrifices along the way, be it to your social life, physical or mental health, or relationships with others—but that couldn't be further from the truth. Sacrifices are not a pre-requisite to success, and a meaningful and thriving career does not have to be at the cost of your quality of life.
In today's world, the narrative of self-sacrifice is as pervasive as ever, because the general belief or understanding is that sacrifice is needed in order to succeed. It's a common thought that to be successful, you must give up at least one, if not more, aspects of your life.
As you're working towards success, it's not normal, and it shouldn't be normalised, to:
Feel as though you're near burnout or are in a constant state of chronic stress because you're too busy to the point where you don't even have time to take a break.
Risk the relationships that you care about the most or have to give up the quality time that you'd usually spend with your friends or family.
Have poor self-care where you don't manage your diet, sleep odd or minimal hours, or make no effort to take care of yourself because you don't have the energy to.
Feel as though you're holding on by the final thread and that you may break at any given moment.
Feel as though you're always behind, or falling short as compared to others because you're missing out on life while you're dedicating everything to your career.
It may feel that way at first, because everyone only has 24 hours in a day and there's only so much you can do, right? Not entirely, because given the right plan in mind, you could have it all and succeed altogether. It isn't a zero-sum game—you don't have to lose one in order to win the other.
In Nick Jonsson's case, it was what had tipped him over to the lowest point of his life, where he turned towards alcoholism, which led to excessive weight gain, and lived in a state of anxiety and depression for the longest time before he found the light at the end of the tunnel. He was close to losing almost everything that he'd ever had, everything that he'd worked hard for.
That didn't deter him though, because he eventually recovered, and now at the age of 47, he has it all. Through life's adversities, he's learnt how to bounce back even from the toughest of times, and is able to work through anything life might have coming his way in the future. Nick Jonsson is now in his journey of teaching others his ways—to teach them that you don't need to be hanging by life's thread to succeed, because there are better and healthier ways to get to where you want to be.
You don't have to feel alone in your journey, because there are many others who are still struggling to find the balance as they work towards success. That's why it's important to join peer groups, because you'll be able to share a space with other like-minded individuals that can extend their helping hand and support in moments when you need them.
If you're interested in joining a peer group, EGN's an excellent place to start! Get in touch with us and we'd love to welcome you with open arms.
