What is success?
It’s a question I often ask myself and others and it’s amazing how little people know about success in general, let alone what success is for them. If you try to live up to a definition of success that is not yours you are going to find it very difficult to achieve that success!
When I ask people about what success means to them I usually get some answers like the ones below:
- Nice car from a high end brand
- Big apartment with a pool and lovely landscaping which is in a good area
- A job with a good title and an equally good salary
- A good looking partner
I can guarantee that at least one of those things will pop up in each definition. However they are all general pretty generic answers. However, I am sure if you took a few minutes to really thing about it you might come up with other definitions of success. Maybe success to you is owning your own business, or travelling to interesting countries, maybe success is living a nomad life style. None of these answers are right or wrong, they are all as unique as the person who suggested them.
If you are working towards success as defined by someone else then you might never be successful because it is not really what you want!
I have come to realise that success to me now, at age 45, is very different than it was maybe 30 years ago!
My key message for this blog article is to tell you that you can avoid disappointment and get lasting success by defining it for you!
Here are 6 of my top questions that you can ask yourself in order to define you success:
- Do I What to leave a legacy for my children and the world?
For some people this is really important. They want to know that at the end of the life there is something that they will be remembered by. This could being a famous author, a business man, having discovered something, or maybe simply giving a beautiful house to your children.
- Do you want to leave a financial benefit behind for your children?
- Is there something you want to be remember for?
- What values do I believe are important?
Many people have values they live by but they have never listed them out. However by taking time you can list out your values and ensure you live by them. This will be another step in the right direction to success. - Exactly what do I want to do?
How do you know what success will be if you don’t know what you want to do! Make a list of all the things you want to do. For example travel to Mexico, do a bungee jump, live in Bogota for a year. This is your list of things you want to do so go and write that list! - What type of live would I like to have?
Maybe you want to have a family with six kids and live in a ranch with horses around. Or perhaps you want to live in NYC and be a writer. It’s your live and you only get one chance to live it so decide what you want and how you want to live your life. - How will it feel when I am successful?
Visualise where you will be, how you will feel, who you will be when you are successful. Really step into the picture and live it. This is going to be how you know when you are successful. - Who else is involved in your success?
Ideally you will be the only person who is responsible for your success, as if you say it depends on my boss, my partner, the weather etc it could mean that you will find an excuse for not being successful so be careful! That’s not to say that others won’t help you, but you should only depend on yourself for success.
It is essential that you understand that there is no one definition of success. Don’t try to be successful for anyone but yourself. If you do it for someone else then it is not your definition of success! It must be meaningful to you. Only by truly defining your success will you be successful!