Does it bother you that in today’s society too many people think they are entitled to success without doing the hard stuff? Do you think that success happens to “Lucky People”. Hey, I was one of those people who thought that, well I have a college education and I should be handed success right off the bat. Harsh reality for me when I received my first paycheck and it was $18. Yes, $18 was all I made and I thought college grads started out of school making 40 or 50k a year! Well, in the personal training field you make your money on the amount of personal training sessions you conduct in a given week. So, being fresh out of school with student loans $18 was a rough slap in the face. However, thankfully for me I had a support system that encouraged me to stick with it.

Now what made me change my entitlement attitude? Well my attitude changed when I first read Stephen Covey’s ” 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.” One of the principles that has stuck with me all these years is the habit of choice. Covey says that one of the most powerful options available to us is that we have the ability to choose what we want in life. That principle has helped me throughout my career, however, I catch myself every now and again falling into another trap. The success trap!

What do I mean by the success trap. Well, I just recently read Darren Hardy’s article called “The Forgotten “Secrets” to Success.”  and one of the key points he hits on is that most of us fall victim to our success. Success brings complacency and the hard work, attention to detail,and self-development is put to the wayside, leaving mediocre results at best. This is such a common recurrence and it is not immune to even successful people. I remember a keynote speech by Joe Theisman where he said one of the biggest things he learned in his pro football career was that after his first championship he let the success go to his head and felt that the next year was a given to repeat, however, that did not happen and now when he looks at his rings he tells himself that “those rings are last year’s success and what we did last year is history.” I have never forgotten that and  I try to remind myself that yesterday’s success, whatever that might be, is history and today’s success depends on me.

So the next time you think you are entitled to success, think again. Success is a choice and even when you are successful it is yesterday’s news. Complacency can lead to your demise, so make the choice to be successful and continue to strive to be better.

Coach Dave