What is Success? – 4 Questions To Ponder
I have a BIG question for you today…What is Success?
What is the true meaning of success? How do you measure it? How do you know when you have achieved it?
Let’s explore this big question by pondering a few smaller questions shall we…
Is Success Defined By How Much Money You Make?
I used to believe that I could measure my success and self-worth by how much money I had, if only I was a millionaire, then my life would be perfect, then I would be able to declare myself successful!!!
The truth is that when your only motivation is money you can lose focus on the things in life that really matter. Things like having a true sense of purpose that nurtures your psychological and spiritual well-being.
While money is really important in today’s world, the bottom line is if you put all your focus is on acquiring money, you can feel very empty inside.
Is Success Defined By a Job Title?
It’s really easy to get caught up on what’s called the Hedonic Treadmill, that’s where you think the next big thing will make you successful, only to realize when you get there that it doesn’t, so you go after the next big thing…and the next…
Part of this treadmill is believing extrinsic factors such as the next big promotion will finally stamp you with that elusive success title.
I’ve chased the corporate job titles, and gotten them, but this perpetual treadmill just keeps going, it never stops, you are never satisfied with what you have achieved.
This will go on indefinitely as long as you’re measuring your success by extrinsic factors such as fame, fortune, and power.
Is Success To Be Achieved at The Expense of All Else?
I have fallen into this trap, and believe me it caused me terrible pain (and the loss of an incredible woman). Trust me on this…it hurts.
The truth of the matter is that we must learn to take time for ourselves, our families, and our close relationships.
Professional athletes know how important it is to train intensely, but they also understand that without rest their bodies will fail them.
Is Success Defined by Never Making a Mistake?
Many people are paralyzed by the fear of failure. This often causes them to work for hours on very insignificant matters, they put in a lot of activity, but they accomplish nothing.
Others fall into the procrastination trap where they avoid starting a task for fear they won’t do it well enough.
Don’t think that to be successful you must be perfect, the result of that will be delaying publishing your book, giving that speech, or releasing that new product because you are constantly trying to make it perfect.
In Summary
What is success?
Success is a beautiful sweet journey and not a destination. Success is the constant realization of a worthwhile dream. Success is not only based on your profits, but more importantly on the meaningful contribution you make serving your purpose in life. How do you use your unique gifts and talents in service to others? How do you contribute to making the world a better place?
Success means knowing what is most valuable to you, it means knowing what your worthwhile dream is, and diligently, patiently, persistently, and playfully working toward it an a consistent day-to-day basis.
So what is success to me? Here is how I define my own personal success; “Success is diligently working toward my big dreams by taking consistent, inspired, and measurable daily action towards my short term goals”
There, that is it for me. It is not the outcome of the actions I take, because they vary, and if I don’t like the outcome I change the action. The success lies in taking the action every day!!!
Time for a bit of introspection…What is success to you? How do you define success for yourself?
Please share this article by clicking the share buttons below, and please leave a comment below…I would love to hear how you define your own success.
 |
| click image |
No comments:
Post a Comment