You have to love what you do, or that’s what people say. But that’s not necessarily true. What is true is that you have to love the opportunity—the opportunity to build your life, future, health, success and fortune. Knocking on someone’s door may not be something you love to do, but you should love the opportunity of what might be behind it.
Someone says, “I’m digging ditches. Should I love digging ditches?” The answer? No, you don’t have to love digging ditches, but if it is the first step on the ladder of success, you should be thinking, I’m glad somebody gave me the opportunity to dig ditches, and I’m going to do it so well, I won’t be here long.
You can be inspired just by having found something, even though you are making mistakes in the beginning and even though it is not ideal to take on a new discipline that you haven’t learned yet. You don’t have to love it, you just have to learn to appreciate the opportunity—and the person who believed in you before you believed in yourself, who brought you the good news, who found you.
If you embrace the disciplines associated with the new opportunity, you will soon find that your self-confidence starts to grow, that you go from being a skeptic to being a believer. And soon, when you start talking to people, you will find it to be the most thrilling opportunity in the world. Every person you meet, consider what they could be to you. The possibilities are unlimited! Maybe they will be a friend for life, an open door to retiring, a colleague for years to come. These opportunities have an enormous amount of potential, but sometimes in the beginning, when we are just getting started, we don’t always see how much.
So before you are tempted to give up or get discouraged, remember that all success is based on long-term commitment, faith, discipline, attitude and a few stepping-stones along the way. You might not like the stone you are on right now, but it’s sure to be one of the stones that leads to great opportunities in the future.
This article was published in September 2015 and has been updated. Photo by filmstudio/IStock
This article originally appeared on JimRohn.com and has been republished with permission.