By Bryan Golden

 

Success is only possible with freedom.  Freedom provides you with the ability to choose the path you travel.  Freedom enables you to determine your own goals.  Freedom permits you to either succeed or fail. With freedom you can control your destiny.

 

You have the freedom to succeed and you have the freedom to fail.  Freedom is not given to you, but it can be taken away.  You have the right to be free.  You have the right to live your life as you wish.

 

The power of freedom is unlimited.  Free people build, create, and invent.  Everyone’s life improves as the result of freedom.  You have the freedom to benefit from your hard work.  You have the freedom to ignore naysayers.

 

Freedom is inspirational.  Freedom is motivational.  Without freedom, people no longer have the incentive to excel.  The driving force behind achievement is the freedom to benefit from your hard work, creativity, and ingenuity.  When you are not free to live as you choose, or the fruits of your labor are taken, you have no incentive to excel.

 

Even when living in a free country, there are people who voluntarily give up their freedom.  They do this by giving others the power to make decisions for them.  This approach is fraught with peril since no one cares as much about your well-being as you do.  When you abdicate responsibility for your life, you are bound to be unhappy with the results.

 

Another way people give up freedom is by striving for acceptance at the expense of pursuing their own dreams.  Because they are always concerned about what other people will say, think, or do in response to the choices they have made, their behavior is controlled by other’s opinions.

 

True personal freedom is only realized when you don’t care about the opinions of others.  What’s important is to follow your path in a moral and ethical manner.  You don’t have to convince anyone as to the legitimacy of your pursuits.

 

When you blame others for your circumstances, you also give up freedom.  People who do this develop a perpetual victim mentality.  They never take responsibility for their life because they are always blaming other people or circumstances.  This results in their becoming convinced that they are powerless to make any changes.

 

You can’t control your environment but you do have the freedom to control your response.  Exercising this freedom is the difference between a satisfying life versus one of constant frustration.

 

Success cannot be mandated or forced.  There will always be people with little or no ambition.  There will always be those who don’t want to work hard.  There will always be individuals who do not have goals. Connected to the freedom to succeed is the freedom to fail.

 

There is no way to guarantee success in life any more than a school can guarantee each student an “A.”  If a student refuses to go to class, or doesn’t want to study and pay attention, there is nothing that can be done. To succeed academically, a student must be willing to put in whatever time and effort is required to learn the material.

 

Although not everything you attempt works as expected, failure only occurs when you give up.  Success is simply getting up whenever you stumble or fall.  Failure is the experience of learning how things don’t work as planned.

 

Great achievement rarely happens on the first try.  Those who persist in the face of obstacles are on the road to success.  It’s not magic.  Only through hard work, perseverance, and determination combined with an unstoppable desire are goals reached.  Freedom is your ticket to success.

 

Bryan is the author of “Dare to Live Without Limits.”  Contact Bryan at Bryan@columnist.com or visitwww.DareToLiveWithoutLimits.com Ó © 2015 Bryan Golden