The Price of Success

Setting goals is easy.

Achieving them? Not so much.

Why do so many of us fail?

The answer often lies in a crucial oversight: we fail to recognise the price we must pay to reach our goals.

Today, I’ll show you why identifying the cost of success upfront can help you not only set but actually achieve your goals.

How Most of Us Choose a Goal

Every year, millions set ambitious goals for the year ahead. Yet by December, 92% have failed. Why?

Morgan Housel, in his insightful book The Psychology of Money, puts it simply:

We’ve all been there. We decide that life would be better if we could just:

• Save £10k.

• Get a promotion.

• Run a marathon.

• Build a business.

We get excited, write down our goal, and imagine the satisfaction of achieving it.

And then, reality hits, and we stumble at the first, second, or third hurdle. What went wrong?

We didn’t consider what our goal would cost us, and in so doing, we rob ourselves of the chance of achieving it.

It Isn’t Supposed to Be Easy

All goals sound great in theory. That’s why we set them.

Who doesn’t want a promotion or an extra £10k in savings?

But the reality is often different.

As we embark on the journey, our initial enthusiasm fades.

The athletes at the Olympics made running look so easy.

Our experience feels so different.

Our legs are sore, it’s raining, and we aren’t sure we’ll make it back without walking. We get frustrated and question why we wanted to run a marathon anyway.

It’s a common story, one I’ve experienced more times than I care to admit.

But.

Those sore legs, the burning desire to stop, and the chafing, wet clothes? That’s simply the price you need to pay to achieve the goal of running a marathon.

By identifying this price before you start, you’re better prepared to pay it. It’s also a reminder that achieving anything worthwhile isn’t supposed to be easy. If it were, it wouldn’t be worth it.

The Price of Success in Investing

The same principle applies to investing. We all want to be wealthy, but as Morgan Housel points out, we’re often unprepared to pay the cost required to get there.

Time is the most significant contributor to investment returns. To be a successful investor, you need to stay invested for decades.

During those years, there will be recessions, wars, and plenty of bad news. The stock market will be volatile, and there will be moments of fear, doubt, and even regret as you watch your portfolio’s value plummet.

This is the price you need to pay to be a successful investor.

You must accept it won’t be easy.

The journey won’t be a continuous, joyful ride upward.

By recognising this before those tough moments hit, you’ll be better prepared to endure them. You’ll feel those difficult emotions, but stay invested anyway. You’ll pay the price of success.

You won’t give up just because it’s hard.

My Writing Journey

The goal of my writing is to eventually earn a living from it. I write each article to either teach you something I already know or to explore something I’m trying to learn, with the hope that you’ll learn with me.

This edition sits firmly in the latter category.

When I first started this newsletter and began posting on Twitter, I was full of energy. I have many interests and I have knowledge to share. The idea of making a living by writing about them seemed like a dream.

I follow creators who churn out great content effortlessly—or so it seems.

But the reality has often been different.

I’ve stared at blank pages, been frustrated by slow growth, and worried I have nothing interesting to say. More than once, I’ve thought about stopping.

Then I read Morgan Housel’s quote, and something clicked.

The frustration, the self-doubt, the temptation to do anything but write—this is just the price of success. If I want to earn a living from my writing, I have to be willing to pay the cost.

Concluding Thoughts

Writing this email has cost me more than usual. It took over three hours to write 800 words—something I can usually do in one. I’m not sure why this one was harder, but it was. Yet, by reminding myself this is simply the price of success, I stayed the course and completed this edition.

The same will be true in every area of life. There will be times when things feel easy, and there will be times when they feel hard.

Whether it’s staying invested during a downturn, pushing through a gruelling training session, or working late on a project, remembering that these challenges are simply the price you must pay for success will help you stay committed for the long haul.