“No matter what path we choose, there is sacrifice”
Experience
is by no doubt the best teacher and if there’s one lesson life has taught me in
the previous years it’s the art of sacrifice. There is no decision that we can
make that doesn’t come with some sort of balance or sacrifice.
I’ll
compare sacrifice to playing chess. A chess player understands this concept
well. When playing the game, a certain piece will be sacrificed in order to win
the game, or to gain an advantage over the other player.
I
remember my transition from books to the practical world; I wanted to be in
charge of my career journey, the milestones and my destination. I had a plan,
to position myself, to drive my ambition and for my employer to see value in me
at the level of strategy and business thinking.
Early
in our careers most of us want to advance, make more money, and perhaps have
more influence. As professionals, managers, executives, and leaders in
organizations, we are often on a path of working and hoping for a promotion,
preparing for the next level, or facing new challenges after a promotion. As an
entrepreneur, innovator, professional, or leader in many fields we also look to
make things happen and expand our positive impact in markets, communities, and
organizations.
With
all these in mind, I had to ask myself very difficult questions, my thinking
couldn’t just be based on reward and compensation. I had to ask myself
questions such as ‘What I’m I doing in the establishment beyond earning a
living? Is it where I want to be or found myself? What follows now that I’m
already there?’
Reality
suddenly hits and you realize that nothing in life is truly free; you give some
to get some. Success in our career needs planning, we must make sacrifices. I
must admit there are days I feel stuck and especially when I have to make a
success out of the new challenges at the next level and this lack of progress
sometimes leads to exhaustion and the barrier of our limits. However, I’m
convinced that if I am going to make my boat sail better, it implies
sacrificing so much and assessing whether the sacrifice I’m making is really
worth it.
Our
sacrifices must create meaning and value for ourselves. This is accomplished
when our sacrifices reflect our own passion, meaning and value for others and
ourselves and determination in achieving our goals. We can climb the ladder of
our career and encounter hurdles. Sometimes we see them; sometimes we just fall
on them. Every new level of our journey in life requires a new level of skills
and actions.
In
this journey we face set-backs, our expectations are often crashed. We
sometimes need to enter the world of complexities, and challenges that no one
has ready answers for.
Every
day we make sacrifices. Some bring great rewards and joy; others are difficult
and hurtful. Some are hard to accept as we have to do it every day, while
others are small and remain unnoticed. We sacrifice our time, money, and sweat.
We do what we do to make a better life for us and the people we truly care
about. Often, we sacrifice our own happiness for other people to smile and be
happy.
We
all have goals of moving forward in life. There’s always going to be a cost to
move in the right direction. You have to accept that you must make sacrifices.
It’s life. Once you make your sacrifice, there is no getting it back.
Written
By:
Dorcas
Waringa
15/01/2015
