The Art of Making Sacrifices

“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