Success is personal for each of us isn’t it? My definition is not the same as yours.
For some it might be being an exceptional business person, for others it might be earning a certain amount of money, for others it might be a fulfilling family life etc. There are infinite possibilities.
I personally believe that success is state as well as a destination or achievement. I believe that one of the purposes of setting goals is to become the people we need to be in order to achieve those goals. It’s about our personal growth, who we have to become, how we stretch ourselves.
The reason for this is that achievements come and go, but our personal expansion stays with us and has a compounding effect on the rest of our lives.
For example, a business person might define success as a great business that makes a lot of money. That’s one definition, it’s a destination. But perhaps it would be more powerful to build a profitable business with a huge social impact and stretch your skills so you become a more well-rounded business person, because that goes with you for life.
See what I mean?
I’d encourage you to expand your definition of success to include who you become to achieve something, as well as the accomplishment itself.
One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that we’re falling behind. That someone else is ahead.
As a young man I associated strength with force; louder voices, sharper opinions, firm lines in the sand.
There’s a strange kind of pride we’ve developed in being exhausted. But even lions, the king of the jungle, rest.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have ambition.
We sometimes believe strength means self-sufficiency — that being independent means being isolated.
We often try to outrun the storm, emotionally, physically, spiritually.
We’re entering an age where machines do our thinking before we’ve even had a chance to try.
In church the other day, the pastor gave a sermon that really stuck with me. He talked about two people.