Chasing comfort will only take you so far

A bloodied young man walks up to an old Buddhist monastery. He seeks protection, but also revenge against the men who killed his family. His last hope is a hidden school that is rumored to teach exactly what he needs to know. He desperately pleads with the gatekeeper to allow him to enter and train with the teachers. The door closes, though, after a quick rejection.

In that moment, the young man faces an important choice: accept the rejection as his fate, or dismiss the rejection and treat it as the first step in his training.

The young man, admirably, refuses to leave. He then plants himself outside the entrance.

And he waits.

He huddles close to the door. He sits in the mud and decides that there is no future for him, other than passing through that door.

Days pass but the young man remains still. He abandons all regard for any other aspect of life. He certainly suffers, through rain and cold, but he doesn’t know it. The young man is immovable — until the door opens.

Eventually, the elders who rejected the young man realize the strength of the man’s desire. What type of person would plant himself next to a closed door, only to wait — without regard to his own comfort or safety — until the door opens? Only someone whose heart burned to enter and learn. Only someone whose desire trumped all else.

Countless stories describe the idea of the patient, yet stubborn student. My personal favorite is the Shaw Brothers classic movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. But Fight Club uses the same device, as does the movie Doctor Strange and countless others.

There is something incredible, and even admirable, about someone who refuses to accept rejection as the final outcome — a person who is willing to suffer personally in order to achieve the aim of his or her will. This is a person who burns for achievement, ablaze for a singular purpose. This is the person Ralph Waldo Emerson references when he wrote, “every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart.”

But what causes some of us to burn for achievement? And what causes others to stumble?

The Difference Hunger Makes

Some of us have a hunger to achieve, while others yearn for something else. The difference is illustrated by the following story.

A young couple had just purchased a home. In an attempt to attract birds to their new backyard, they installed a birdhouse right outside their back window. The couple went to sleep looking forward to seeing birds enjoying the food the next morning.

Excitedly, the couple woke early to enjoy the birds.

But there were no birds. The birdhouse was empty. The food was gone.

What happened?

The couple looked outside and saw squirrels devouring the last remnants of the bird food the couple had left.

The couple responded by hanging the birdhouse from a tree, so it would be harder for the squirrels to reach. Yet, the next morning the birdhouse was empty — all of the bird food was gone. The squirrels had thwarted the couples’ plan.

Next, the couple elevated the birdhouse. The squirrels still broke in.

Finally, the couple put spikes around the entire birdhouse — even along the supporting beam that held it up. The next morning, the couple hurriedly looked at the birdhouse. It was full! The squirrels had been thwarted.

Days, and then weeks, went by. The couple enjoyed the birds that eventually came to feed.

Then, one day the couple woke up, and the birdhouse had once again been ransacked. The squirrels — deterred only temporarily — had found a way.

You might be thinking, why does a story about squirrels and a young couple matter?

The answer is in the motivation. The couple was motivated by a desire to enjoy their backyard view and experience. The squirrels were motivated by the will to live.

When the couple had to make a change, they did it and then moved on to different parts of their lives.

When the squirrels faced the new roadblock, the only thing that they could do was think about how to solve the new problem. They only thought of breaking into the birdhouse. They only thought of survival.

The couple wanted comfort. The squirrels wanted to live. No matter what the couple tried, they could never match the hunger of the squirrels.

Mesmerized by the Extraordinary

Years ago, I came across a quote from gymnastics coach Christopher Sommer that perfectly captures the hunger for achievement of a champion.

Occasionally we find ourselves mesmerized by something extraordinary. Something which inspires us to reach above and beyond what we already are. To break out of our rut and strive to stretch our boundaries.

From there on out however, the journey to self-actualization only gets tougher and ever more demanding, as those initial moments of enthusiasm fade, and we are left with only the strength of our individual resolve to overcome our very human and seemingly unlimited ability to procrastinate.

Those who succeed do so due to an inability to accept defeat. A hunger. A burning in their belly.

Without this indomitable fire within, there can be no long lasting commitment to taking action. And without a long lasting commitment to taking action, it is impossible to achieve a substantial level of success.

It is going to be difficult. It is going to be painful. It is going to be monotonous at times.

It is also the only way to win.

This hard truth is the reason why there are so many daydreamers in the world; and so very few achievers.

We need something else — a hunger, an inability to accept defeat, a burning in the belly — to achieve.

The Flaming Heart

The hunger for achievement leads to the extraordinary.

The immovable student…

The animal fighting to survive…

The burning in the belly…

The daydreamer who becomes the achiever.

Chasing comfort will only take you so far.

Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart.

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