Thoughts on Success

Success is an interesting concept. It is used and thought about on a day to day basis whether we realize it or not. This is especially true in the United States culture where we are taught from childhood that life revolves around this “race to the top”. What so few people take the time to ask themselves is, where is the top and why do I want to get there? Herein lies the complex notion of success.

The amazing thing about success is that there is no one else in the world who can know you are successful other than yourself. As much as our society has tried to emphasize that success means things like money, status, big titles and fame; at the end of the day, society does not have a clue whether or not you are successful. This is the case because it is you who defines success and who is in charge of achieving that definition.

The great disconnect is that so few people are taught this concept from the beginning and for that reason they adopt, often unconsciously, someone else’s definition of success and claim it as their own. The problem here is that you will spend your life trying to be successful only to find that that particular definition of success has nothing to do with what success really means to you. So many people are guilty of this and to be honest, it is no one’s fault. I have certainly fallen into this trap in the past but thankfully, greatly as a result of the reading I have done, I have recognized this shortcoming and have been able to correct it, although it is a continuous process. It is our surroundings that are dictating so much of what we decide is correct.

No one in this world has the right to tell another person that they have been unsuccessful. How am I to know what fulfills you and builds upon your success? It is you who decides if you have been successful or not. It is so easy to take a look at someone who has what looks like a meaningless job or hardly any money and think they are not successful. Please be careful with this. You may find that that person is as fulfilled as can be because the life they are living is what perfectly defines success for them.

I ask any and all of you one thing as readers in search of success. Please, before you go any further with your career or your relationships or any other journeys for success, take a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a year, and become crystal clear on what it is that defines success for your life and each and every component that contributes to it. After all how often do you try to leave on a trip without having a destination? How can you expect to reach your full potential of success if you do not really know what that is to you?

Don’t ever look at another person and think they have more or have accomplished more than you have just because they better fit a general definition of success. This is not a race. In the end each and every one of us is racing against no one but ourselves. Once we define our own success, we all en up having different finish lines.

There was nothing more liberating than the moment I came to this realization.

-Reading for Your Success

Share on Facebook