Why is success so handsomely rewarded?

Why is success so handsomely rewarded? Because the price paid is steep. You will have to get out of your comfort zone, develop new disciplines, feel frustration, deal with the negativity of others, overcome obstacles, focus intensely, confront your fears, and do battle with your worst enemy, yourself. The road will be hard and fraught with danger. Your character will be tested, and tested, then tested some more. However, if you stay the course and grow through the challenges, one day you will look back and say “If had I known then what I know now, I would have gladly paid a larger price.” Are you willing to pay?

Power

Yes, it was I that led the charge
Into the abyss looming large
Let not my ego tell the lies
That it was somehow otherwise

The fog of lies can blind a man
To his true path that lies at hand
Then trapped is he in his own snare
With nothing left to pay the fare

The pain of truth can set you free
Just take Responsibility!

Carlos A. Bauta

The Common Denominator of Greatness

Do you have hopes, dreams and aspirations? Most people live vicariously through someone else’s dreams and are content to live an insipid, mundane life of mediocrity. The collective mentality of society as a whole ridicules the dreamer demanding that people keep their feet firmly planted on the ground and thereby sentencing them to remain stagnant. The collective abhors individuality. History teaches us that society has rejected and mistreated its visionaries like Copernicus and da Vinci, to name but two. Ridicule, ostracism, scoffing, and at times even imprisonment have been the tools of mass lunacy used by the collective.

Given these attitudes, it should not surprise us that most people have had their willingness to dream beaten out of them at an early age. Yet some of us still dare to dream. However, dreaming alone is insufficient. While every new concept, every new technology, every advancement has sprung from the seeds of dreams, our graveyards are filled with the remnants of suppressed seedlings. For these to mature into reality, they must be nurtured with attributes not easily found in today’s society of immediate gratification: courage, conviction, tenacity, persistence, audacity, faith, perseverance cum stubbornness—yes, stubbornness, and self-reliance.

A life of mediocrity can lead to an eternity of regret. We were not placed on this earth to conspire with the masses but to inspire and prosper. For no creator would give us the ability to dream and to envision what could be without the ability to create it. So I ask you, do you have any hopes, dreams, and aspirations? Is your life what you, as a child, imagined? Do you have the courage to take action in spite of ridicule? Do you have the audacity to create a better life for yourself, your family, and yes, even society? Do you have the perseverance to build a superior life of accomplishment paid for up-front and in full with hard work, frustrations, and heart-ache or will you settle for the mediocre life of human cattle slowly moving in tune to the established rut and creating an eternity of regret? The power to choose lies within you.

The common denominator of greatness: Every great man or woman who has ever lived, has dared to dream and see things the way they could be instead of how they are. And then, deliberately, created a new reality!