Success: How Do You Define It?

Success.

Honestly, we see the word thrown around constantly. If you, like me, are a fan of self-help and motivational books and tapes, you really get a double dose.

“You can have success!”
“Success in 5 easy steps!” 
“Success is yours -- follow our simple program!” 

If you are a human being with any kind of vision or dream, success is your ultimate goal. But what does that actually mean to you? How do you define success?

Sure, we all want success, but our definition of it is as unique as our reasons for pursuing it. What I consider a success, you may just consider a total failure. It’s just like when you were in school. Some people were ecstatic to get a B on an exam. Other people considered achieving anything less than an A on that same exam to be a personal shortfall.

When you close your eyes, what do you think a successful person looks like? Do you imagine someone with an expensive car, sporting a Rolex watch? Who do you idolize? It could be an award-winning athlete winning a gold medal for your country in the Olympics. Your hero could be a Pulitzer prize winner, or a great contributor to humanity, like Ghandi, Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Or do you imagine a person surrounded by friends and family, with a huge, smiling face and a wonderful attitude to be the most successful person in the world?

If we have achieved each and every goal we have set for ourselves, but are not happy with our achievements and our life, can we really consider ourselves truly successful? First, we must clearly define our own terms of success.

Consider this:  if achieving our immediate or long-range goals does not bring real fulfillment, perhaps those goals that we pursued were not our own.  Our parents, peers, teachers, and even our mentors may have their own views of what should constitute success for us. Ultimately, it could take a long time and, sadly, a ton of frustration, to truly comprehend that these successes are not really ours, and never were.

There are just so many different definitions of success. Before we travel the long road on our individual journey to our goals, we need to ensure that we truly understand our own vision of success.

As an example, let us say that you own your own Internet home business. Naturally, you want it to be successful. But what does this success look like for you? Is it enough extra income to take your family on a nice vacation every year? Do you want it to bring you a full time income so you can leave your current job? Or do you aspire to be another Matt Morris of Success University and overcome all adversities and go on to make millions of dollars? Which of these scenarios comes the closest to your dreams?

One of Matt Morris’ favorite sayings is that if your dreams don’t scare you, they just aren’t big enough. Yes, we all have to set our goals high, but if your idea of success is to be a millionaire, the most important thing you will ever learn is how to celebrate your successes along the way. Your heart should leap with that first check you receive, no matter how small – and the next check, and the next one, as you watch them grow.

Then, you will have learned to be successful every single day. With each new skill we learn and then perfect, with every day well spent, with every task we complete, we have made an investment toward reaching this wonderful goal. If you can end each day feeling that you have made some progress toward realizing your dream, then you are indeed a successful person.

Here’s an example. One of my biggest goals is to become a professional speaker. However, I don’t think that I am not successful because I have not yet achieved that. For me, I am successful if every day I am able to motivate an affiliate on my team to move on to the next level with their own business. Sharing the knowledge that I have gathered on my own journey in business and in life takes me one step closer to my main goal. I have other successes, personally and professionally, which I consider to be stepping stones towards more confidence and greater achievement.

While we are aiming for the stars, we also need to look around us and see where we are successful every day.  So ask yourself the following: What is important to you? Write a list of your important values such as integrity, humor, family or freedom and make sure your goals fit in with these. When did you last feel happy and proud of yourself? What were you doing, or what had you achieved?

If you want success in life there are many resources, such as life coaching, or online websites such as Success University. But first you need to define success on your own terms. Once you have done that, you take action to achieve it, and you can achieve it every single day.