By Dawn Onley

Most parents understand sacrifice at its fundamental core because it’s something we do – almost inherently – for our children. Without complaining or even a second thought, we give up our weekends, our money, second helpings of our favorite dishes just to make sure our kids have full bellies, a ride to and from their social events, and money to foot the bills.

We place our children’s needs ahead of our own, and defer many of our own needs. We perfect the art of delayed gratification to fulfill our responsibilities to our offspring.

And we should. We should also remember these lessons of sacrifice when it comes to advancing our own dreams and desires. We don’t make enough sacrifices for ourselves. We don’t have to look any further than the example we effortlessly exhibit for our children to learn how best to do this.

If we want to do something that we have never done before, we have to learn the art and humility of this self-sacrifice. If we want to reach new heights, we have to learn to embrace sacrifice. We must develop a desire to do things differently, even unconventional, to get us to the goal post.

I love to read the memoirs of successful people. In these books, a common theme emerges — beyond the glitz and glamour, and in some cases, wealth. Sacrifice is the theme and successful people, in these books, detail significant sacrifices that they made to prepare for success.

To get what you want out of life, you must be willing to sacrifice – your time, your quality of life, even your freedom. Sacrifice can come in the form of two jobs or a 60-hour work week in pursuit of a dream. It can mean taking in a tenant to help build a financial cushion to start your own business. It can mean operating on 5 hours of sleep each night for a few months so that you can study to complete a class.

Sacrifice is hard work. It is not comfortable. There’s pain involved with it. If there’s no pain, if it comes too easy, it is not a sacrifice.

In the long run, it’s a small price to pay for what could be a huge reward.