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Payment in Years
There are no shortcuts to success.
The childish ambition lurches from prospect to prospect, hoping to build Rome one day, write Romeo & Juliet the next, and paint the Mona Lisa the day after that. It is the mark of immaturity to believe that something can be gotten for nothing, that by virtue of our natural skill and bounding enthusiasm we shall accomplish great things with no delay.
Life teaches us that all great accomplishments are enchained a thousand times over with the unbreakable threads of time, and far from capable of being given a firm tug and pulled forth, it must slowly and carefully be unwrapped over months and years. Life, at last, becomes a ledger and scale: place your dreams here and see if you have enough years to match the balance.
Mastery and success can only be purchased with a single currency: the years of your life.
Martin Vidal is the author of The Ambition Handbook: A Guide for Ambitious Persons
