Success means owning a large house in the best neighbourhood, filled with all the latest gadgets, driving a fancy car, having prestige and standing in the community isn’t it? Or does success mean something completely different to you? My objective with this article is not to judge and state that any one definition of success is any better than other. My objective is to show that, unless you know what success really means to you and you have clarity about what you really want from your life, you are going to continue to pursue something that you may not even want in the first place.
There are numerous cases of people, who thought success was defined by fame and fortune, only to get there and realise that money and notoriety mean very little at all. Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, River Phoenix and Lindsay Lohan, to name but a few, all achieved incredible levels of fame and fortune, but destroyed their lives with drugs, because they never defined what they really wanted from life. So when the fame and fortune crossed their paths, it was a hollow victory, with little meaning at all.
Invest the time today and allow yourself to explore and discover what success really means to you. What will you be doing, having and being when that ideal picture of success shows up. Until you know what you really want and why that is important to you, you will continue to flounder blindly through life pursuing a dream, you don’t even care to realise.
Success may mean:
· Spending time with the people you love
· Freedom to choose what you do when you do it
· Money, prestige or fame
· Academic achievement
· Connection to your spiritual self
· Great Health
· Financial security
· Great meaningful career
Your definition of what success really means to you could be one or a combination of any of these ideas above. The definition you come up with is of little importance though, what really matters is that you no longer see success as a destination. Success is an exciting journey of discovery and growth.
I have reached many milestones in my life and I can report that the euphoria associated with reaching any destination was short lived. I remember eagerly waiting to finish high school, counting each day until I was done, got to graduation day and felt empty and asked myself the question “So What”. I never learnt anything from my high school graduation experience and went onto university, wow, was I in a hurry to graduate so that I could go and get a job. I was once again disappointed by the anti-climax associated with graduating and being awarded my bachelor’s degree.
When you see success as a destination you are setting yourself up for a fall, success is an on-going process of growth and development, never a single event. To avoid the inevitable disappointment and anti-climax, which comes with reaching any milestone in your life? Create a crystal clear vision of where you want your life to go. Keep traveling in this direction every day and see each destination as only a part of the journey, never the end of the journey. Success is a direction and never a destination.
It does not matter what your definition of success is, all that matters is that you never define success as a whole lot of destinations. Change your belief that says, “I will be happy when I get that promotion or I will be happy when I earn X amount of money” and instead see success as a direction. As you travel in that direction and grow and expand, keep expanding your vision and allow new possibilities to open up to you. Allow yourself to enjoy each milestone that you achieve, but always remember to stay focused on the direction you are traveling. Completely immerse yourself in enjoying the journey and love what you do. Life is a fantastic journey, enjoy the ride.
Author: Andrew Horton Motivational Speakers
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