Are You Wishing or Working?

Do you work for it or wish for it? It seems we are surrounded by a generation of wishers – people with lofty aspirations and dreams, but no blood, sweat and tears behind them to make it happen. It’s as if individuals are waiting to be discovered by some altruistic entity rather than sacrificing and grinding for what they believe in and say they want.

I think a lot of those folks are in for a rude awaking when they realize there is no Prince Charming to come rescue them and there’s no glass slipper to wear. There’s no cousin who is Nigerian royalty, seeking to wire them millions of dollars. No hand outs and no free lunches. Cinderella has no Fairy Godmother.

There is one lesson we can take from Cinderella though. She played the part. She didn’t just dream of being a princess, she acted like one. She showed up to the ball, presented herself as best she knew how, and danced. She didn’t just wait at home for the Prince to stop by the house and have her start trying on shoes. She did what a princess would do and she took risks to do it. Even after failing initially, she didn’t give up.

If you want to be a millionaire, you can’t do broke people stuff and expect to end up wealthy. You have to start acting the part and doing what millionaires do. If you want to make $500k a year, which is roughly $250 an hour, you must start doing $250 an hour work. Now, you might not get paid that initially, but if you start putting out $250 an hour value or more, someone will eventually start paying you for it. However, you can’t do $50 an hour work and expect to be paid $500k a year. Wishing you were a better parent won’t make you one. You have to start doing what a better parent would do. Hoping for a six pack abs won’t make you lose weight, you have to start making the sacrifices that people with six packs make. Dreaming about running your own company while you watch reality TV and play video games won’t do the trick. You need to start living like successful entrepreneurs live (hint: it isn’t Keeping up with the Kardashians or Dancing with the Stars reruns).

Let me be clear, this isn’t fake-it-till-you-make-it, this is acting “as if.” To be the person you wish to become or to get to where you want to go, you start doing the work now as if you are already there. And do that work with the expectation that the rewards will come, but the effort goes out first. And you have to be willing to put yourself out there, risk and be vulnerable. You have to show up to the ball and dance.

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