In this series of articles, I am dealing with dreaming and living the dream. I wish to make the point that dreaming is only the beginning of a journey to success. Fulfilling the dream is often very challenging, with many successful people having to pay a heavy price for the reward.

When you see successful people driving their Lexuses and Mercedes-Benzes, living in Beverley Hills or Cherry Gardens, flying first-class and making the news, don't envy them. For many have endured excruciating agony, sleepless nights, faced and staved off bankruptcies, endured bad-mouthing, sweated over the monthly payroll and yet triumphed.

The people who have endured trials and tribulation, who have experienced pain and suffering and come through, are people of strong character - men and women whose spirits and minds have been moulded in the fire of trials.

But why, however, does life deal hard times to people? Why not just be wafted in life on a satin pillow of success? The fact is, success would destroy many people who had no experience of defeat and difficulty. It's the same with money. Money quickly gained or inherited, money won through a lottery, is often just as quickly lost by people who never had to pay a price for it, people whose characters are like marshmallows rather than steel.

Some years ago, my wife and I took a trip over the Canadian Rockies. We boarded a cable car and were transported slowly over the beautiful scenery. In the valley where we boarded the cable car, there was lush vegetation, huge trees, each rivalling the other as to how high it could grow. It was a virtual jungle. As we went higher and higher in the cable car, however, we noticed that there were fewer and fewer trees, less and less vegetation.

When we finally reached the snow-covered mountain top, the scene was spectacular, breath-taking. The air was crisp and clean, you could see for miles around. One had the feeling of ecstasy, of power, of wonder at nature. But we noticed something else - there was no vegetation, no trees, no growth at the mountain top.

Journey of life

Jamaican Adam Hyde has climbed Kilimanjaro. What mountains do you have to climb? - Contributed

It was then that it struck me, "This is the journey of life." I thought to myself, "When you reach the top, the air is rare, the sights are great, but there is no growth there." When we boarded the cable car in the valley, that was where growth was fierce. Competition forced each tree to grow higher and higher to reach its share of the sunlight. The valley was hot and difficult, but that is where the growth took place, not at the top.

The valley in your life represents the adversity and trials you now face. It is during these trials that you grow, not when you reach the top, for life is like a fruit; when you're green, you grow, when you're ripe, you rot. To prevent 'rot', when you reach the top, do not see it as a final stop. View success as a journey, not a destination.

In my life, I have watched people acquire power or wealth or both. But, sadly, I saw some of them change to arrogant, pompous and impatient people, persons who let power and wealth dominate their thinking. They run roughshod over people. If they are employers, they brook no compromise, they tolerate no dissension. Their philosophy: It's my way or the highway. These people have either forgotten the valley or have not learned from it. But life, the great leveller of men, tends to balance their arrogance with humbling experiences until they learn that humility is a sign of greatness.

Last week, I explained a principle of success: promise, problem, provision. The promise is your dream, the provision is your reward. But you never gain the provision without successfully negotiating the problem. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Promise, problem, provision never fails. If you conquer the problem, you will walk humbly. Until you learn to handle success, life places you back into the problem for as long as it takes to straighten you out. It took 40 years in the backside of the desert to straighten Moses out. Let's hope it takes less time with you and me.