The Price of Success

Once a student’s guardian complained to the school principal that the school syllabus was so lengthy that the students would have to spend too much of their time studying it. The principal replied: “The solution to this problem is very easy. You can prepare a brief syllabus. In reality, the time factor depends upon what standard you want in the student.” Nature takes a hundred years to grow an oak tree. But it takes only six months to grow a vegetable like a cucumber. If you want a low standard of education, a few years of learning will be enough. But a high standard of education requires spending much more time on studies.

This is the rule for all of life’s issues. Only a very little progress can be achieved with the minimum of effort. But if you want to achieve greater success, you must work hard. Just a little effort is not likely to bring you any great success.

Mr. Harold Sherman makes the same point: Every worthwhile accomplishment has a price tag on it: how much are you willing to pay in hard work and sacrifice along with the patience, faith and endurance to obtain it?

In the market one gets only what one has paid for. Likewise, every promotion, all progress, every success have their price, and one will achieve only that success or progress for which one has worked hard, neither more nor less.