4 Ways of Redefining Success
Nobody gets a free pass at success.
Money? Of course.
Fame? You betcha.
Good looks? I’m living proof.
But never success.
Why do I bring this up?
I bring this up because often people have a mindset that some folks were just destined for success. Like they were born into some magical success pool. Although I do believe there is a God who knows what is going to happen to us, I do not believe any of that is pre-destined. Not on the front end.
There is no statistic that can map out your life.
There is no standardized test score that will define your soul.
There is no teacher who can determine your choices.
Do not get caught up in the lie which says other people just have it made. They were always going to succeed. They had advantages you didn’t.
It’s crap.
Unicorns of our world did not choose to be born where they did any more than you did. They took what they had and moved forward.
The bigger problem is we fail to define success correctly in the first place. Let’s take some time to do that now.
Success = relative
I know we all want to be Mark Zuckerburg. But frankly, if we were all like Mark Zuckerburg, life would be pretty crappy. Your success will not look like anyone else’s because it is not supposed to look like anyone else’s. We all play different roles.
Success != money (!= means “does not equal”)
Money is the only way we can keep score in life, and that’s a crappy system. Don’t assume your success relies on you making lots of money. There are plenty of rich people who hate themselves. There are plenty of poor people who are happier than a pig in mud.
Success = Progress
Every day, you can make the choice to get better than you were yesterday. You can move forward. You can change one thing.
And then you can wake up tomorrow and do it again.
Success = Realizing a goal.
The first step that’s often overlooked in this is setting the goal in the first place.
In 2015, golfer Jason Day wrote down 1 goal for the year:
“Do my best with every shot, every time.”
At the end of 2015, he’d won a major, finished top 30 in the other 3, won 4 more events, and became #1 in the world.
Not a bad year.
I won’t do that in 2016, but if I make a goal to play golf 12 times with my dad and do it, guess what?? I am successful! That success is as important for me as Jason Day’s 2015 was for him. This is a critical point.
Planned to do the dishes and did them? You are successful! Planned to write just 100 words and did it? You are successful! Planned to read one inspiring article and are reading this now? You are successful!
Say it. Say “I am successful.” Say it out loud.
Feels nice, doesn’t it? 🙂
Success, really, is just a series of choices. One good decision piled on another one piled on another one.
Make one today.
“It is our choices that show who we really are, far more than our abilities.” -J.K Rowling (Albus Dumbledore)
