Which is the key to successí  Which is the difference between people who triumph and those who fail?  Is it possible to achieve successí  And once we are successful, is it possible to maintain that successí  A lot of possible answers throng in front of us trying to show us a safe way towards personal victory.

I remember when I got my first job.  I was fourteen years old and I was finishing my second year in high school when from one day to the next my uncle offered me a summer job.  It was quite a challenge for a teenager who was used to just watching TV, practicing basketball and going to school!  However I faced the challenge, and I threw myself into the «adventure».

The first few days were very nice: everyone was smiling, my bosses had patience with me, and although it was difficult for me having to get up so early I managed to do so.  But, as days went by, all that comfort turned into routine and the job became very hard for me.  I worked for almost a month from 7 AM to 10 PM!  Fifteen hours a day!  And when I finally got home I had dinner and I was so tired that I would just fall on my bed deeply asleep.  And all of that just to get up five hours later to continue with the routine!  I didn’t watch TV or go out; I just worked and worked and worked.

However something «mysterious» happened every two weeks.  Something that made me «forget» all the sacrifice and the self – denial of every day: I finally got paid!  Yes!  For the first time in my life I could enjoy having my own money which I had earned all by myself!  For the first time I could understand (in a very practical way) the huge value that personal effort has, keeping in mind the reward that implies having achieved success.

The apostle Paul wrote: «Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize».  1 Corinthians 9.24-27 (NIV)

I love what a well – known American author says about this: «Successful people have the habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don’t like doing.  Successful people don’t like to do them either.  But every day they make an effort to do them anyway, in order to achieve their goals.  «I don’t like» making sacrifices, going on diets, studying, going to the doctor’s, being kind, planning, forgiving, repenting, praying, reading the Bible… But there is a really big difference in my quality of life when I make an effort and spend time doing all these things and a lot more!