Being successful isn’t easy. No one said it would be.

And yet, so many men are confused when they take the easy route and don’t see a shred of success in their lives.

The truth is, if you don’t have success, you don’t deserve it. Because if you deserved it, you would have it.

The only way to prove you are worthy is to put in the work and do the hard tasks that nobody else is willing to do, because that’s what’s necessary to be exceptional.

No shortcuts.

Most people are scared of doing things nobody else is willing to do. It means you become alien compared to everyone around you. Your friends and family start to see you differently.

But is this not what it means to be ‘exceptional’?

You don’t want to be average. You want to be different from those around you. And yet you are scared these same ‘average people’ won’t accept you as their own.

Yes, it’s lonely.

But this feeling of loneliness is one of the best indicators that you are on the right path.

There comes a point where you transcend your current friends but you are still not successful enough to be friends with the kind of people who you want to be friends with.

And this is often the hardest part of the journey. Not the extra hours working, or the intense workouts. Just the isolation of not being like everyone else.

If you’re resentful that being exceptional is unforgivingly difficult, don’t be.

This is the filter necessary to separate those who are worthy from those who aren’t.

If success was easy, it wouldn’t be special. And if you want it bad enough, the difficult journey will be your biggest asset.

If you can stay disciplined and remain focused even when nobody else can, you will know that your success is real.

If you become successful without putting in the necessary work, you live life as an imposter, and that’s arguably worse than being broke.