So, everyone would like to be successful, well at least the majority of us. There’s a few people that go around always thinking nd fearing the worst and of all the negatives things that might happen if they went after their dreams rather than what success they might be able to attain and the benefits they could enjoy.
But for the rest of us that would like to be successful, how do you know if you’re heading towards that goal, or if you have achieved it, if you don’t have a solid picture of what success looks like to you?
In this world where we are bombarded by images of other people looking like they are ‘happy’ (whether they are or not is a different story) it’s certainly easy to be programmed or influenced into thinking what could make you happy or feel successful. It’s a major part of what the multi-billion discipline of marketing is about, to sell you on images of what success is so that if you can only purchase those products or link your life to certain fashionable brands then happiness and an inner feeling that you have made it will surely follow. Or will it?
There’s a saying that “if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else”. That is, if you haven’t sat down and thought through what your goal of success is, what that will feel like to you, then you’ll probably end up substituting someone else’s, or more likely some marketers, concept of it. And who really wants to be living someone else’s dream or lifestyle? That’s a recipe for disappointment and to end up feeling unfulfilled.
Is success even a defined end point? When you reach a stage in life will you feel like a success or that you have succeeded? Or is it a mindset or way of viewing the world and a set of continuous actions and behaviours?
These are the questions that you need to think through and contemplate to get to a point where you have a better understanding of what success means to you individually.
But everyone loves a few quotes so let me add a couple to start you thinking this important topic over.
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”
Booker T Washington
“Success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing you will be successful.“
Albert Schweitzer
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.“
John Wooden
If you would like assistance in working out what YOUR personal definition of success is and how to achieve it, contact me and let’s work together.
mark.woods@achievingtraveldreams.com