Summary

The biggest misconception is that successful people have it easier than everybody else. People think that they’re better and smarter than the rest of us.

But the truth is…

Successful people are the ones who have gone through the biggest struggles in their lives. The difference is that they were willing to embrace and fight the struggle.

Success is always on the other side of all the struggle (not in avoiding it). Whatever you’re struggling with right now…own it and overcome it. 

Full Transcript

Hey, my friend, it’s your coach Kevin Ward, and I was just talking to somebody that had talked to somebody else about my background, my story. 

Because I just turned 58 years old, and 10 years ago… Nine years ago, nine years ago today, I was renting a bedroom, unfurnished. An old, rundown apartment complex for 200 bucks a month and sleeping on an air mattress, in LA. And today my life is totally different from that. But what the comment was, was how powerful and inspirational that story was for them and their situation and how it wasn’t too long ago that they were in that kind of a situation and so forth. 

And here’s what I want you guys to understand. The difference between successful Realtors and unsuccessful Realtors is not that successful Realtors have it easier than everybody else. They have it easier than everybody else. And this is the perception. It’s like, “Yeah, but look at them, they’re successful. They don’t have to struggle.” As if they didn’t ever have to struggle.

See, when you look at somebody who’s successful, it’s very difficult to look at them as somebody who’s unsuccessful. It’s very difficult to look at them as somebody who struggled, who’s been flat on their back, who’s burned their life to the ground. Who’s had it go terribly, horribly bad and had to overcome amazing adversity. But my friend, that’s the reality. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is not that unsuccessful people have more struggles than successful people. 

In fact, a lot of times it’s the opposite. Sometimes the most successful people are the ones who have had the greatest struggles. The difference is, they were willing to embrace the struggle, fight through the struggle, own the struggle, and overcome the struggle.

And then when you see them succeed, you’re like, “Oh, well they, yeah… But they’re not having to struggle like me.” Well, no, you’re just seeing them after the struggle is over. At least the visible part of it, or at least they’ve got fruit on the tree because now they’ve had some positive stuff happening in their life. 

So people look at me and go like, “Man, I wish I… You have got all this stuff and you’re successful and all that.” And they’re like, “It’s harder for me because I’m not there.”

I had literally a coaching member this week on a call was talking about, “Yeah, I mean, I know that you point out and you hold up your case studies as your top people.” And she was on the call… One of the guys on the call was one of my coaching members named Buchi. Buchi Offodile. And she says, “Yeah, but we can’t all be Buchi.” As if… See Buchi’s successful. That’s why he’s making money is because he’s smarter than me. He’s better than me. He’s taller than me. He’s stronger than me. Now, and I said… And my answer was, “Dear, Buchi was not always Buchi.” The Buchi you see today did not exist 10 years ago. The Buchi you see today didn’t exist two years ago.

See the Buchi you see today as a Buchi who spent years and years and years struggling, and was willing to embrace the struggle. And so today, Buchi is on track for over $800,000 this year in commissions. His goal is over a million dollars this year in commissions. And it’s just the first of the year. So he is like, “Okay, I’m off to a good start.” Because January’s typically not your best month of the year. But he’ll make more in the first two months of this year, than he was making an entire year, two and three years ago. Why? Not because he didn’t struggle, but because he was willing to embrace the struggle, own the struggle, and overcome the struggle.

So wherever you are, my friend, success is on the other side of all the struggle. It’s not in avoiding it. It’s in embracing it, owning it, and overcoming it.