What Does Success Mean To You?
I spent a long time being what I thought other people wanted and expected me to be, you can pigeon hole yourself so easily. Now, after much reading, writing and soul searching, I finally feel as though I am comfortable in my own skin.
When you have your own individual and personalised measures of success, you can decide for yourself what and who you are impressed by.
So much of what we think makes a successful life is made up of other people’s ideas and expectations. We are all influenced by the opinions of family, friends, colleagues and what we read in the media.
But you don’t have to listen to anyone but yourself. You can make your own definitions of success. It is possible to find out what you truly want.
Everyone’s definition of success is different, and so it should be.
You need to work out what you think. It’s your journey, no one else’s.
“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 to me is when you love your life regardless of the amount of money you have. I know that having money gives you a bit more freedom of choice. It’s what you then do with that choice that’s important. Life is much more than making a lot of money and being admired.
To develop your own specific, personalised goals, values and motivations you need to start by understanding who you really are. What makes you tick, what really motivates you?
You need to forget what other people think, family and friends can guide you, but you need to work out what you really care about and do more of that.
Make a plan of how you will achieve whatever success looks like to you and then make it happen. Bit by bit, one change after another.
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus” — Bruce Lee
You will need to keep re-evaluating your plan, because you’ll get distracted and lose sight of your goals. Just don’t give up, keep re-assessing whether those goals and values are still important to you.
Your definition of success will probably keep changing as you get older which is another reason to constantly re-evaluate. I know mine has, my definition, at the moment, goes something like “To be happy and healthy, to help elevate others, to be conscious about my impact on the planet and to live my best life and to keep colouring outside the lines.”
“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” — Ray Goforth
I’m on my 365 day journey, #365small changes, what difference are you going to make in your life?
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