What is Success?

Suggested Video.
What is ‘Success’?​
  • Success means doing something well.
  • No one can be good at everything.
  • It's important you follow your own distinctive path that leads you to what you think success is.
​Playwright George Bernard Shaw thought was about creating oneself not finding oneself.
Wellness.
​
  • Accept life is a journey: Poet T S Eliot is thought to have differentiated between life as a journey not as a destination. It is my experience that the people who object to this the most are the one’s that see money and material things as the only true measure of success. I don't agree with this and most of the people I have met who take this view are, in one way or another, broken and/or dissatisfied with their lives.
  • Take comfort from your achievements:  The point here is that it is you that decides what you want to do and it only matters if you feel you were successful.  The opinions of others do not count.  It is important not to delude yourself but, beyond that, success is of your own creation.  My personal example is, of my five greatest achievements none have anything to do with money, power or glory.  It is this attitude that has seen me labeled as 'crazy' by some of my friends who see money as the definitive proof of success.
  • ​Use your years of experience wisely:  As much as it is true that success is something you control you also control what you aim for.  It is perfectly acceptable for you strive for things that may seem impossible.
  • Learn how to take strength from everything you believe:  I have made two decisions in my adult life that, in turn, shaped everything that has happened to me over the last 30 years.  Both decisions were met with opposition/criticisms from colleagues, family and friends.  They all had a point of view.  The problem was I saw things differently - indeed I still do.  I have always been of the opinion that if I am going to make mistakes I want them to be my mistakes.  I truly believed in what I wanted to do.  BUT I was willing to accept that, if it went wrong, I would have to take full responsibility.
  • Know yourself. Don't criticise yourself. Accept who you are and what you have done as part of your life. It is part of what makes you, you:  Having made my decisions, I have dealt with all of the consequences; good and bad.  I have steadfastly refused to waste time re-hashing the past trying to see if i could have made different choices.  The truth is that, no matter what my choices, there would have been good and bad outcomes.  I have to own-up-to a certain smugness because the things most important to me have gone brilliantly and all I have had to give up is money.
  • Be happy:  Whatever you circumstance, be happy that you have secured a place for yourself in the world, that is uniquely yours.

What's Next?

  1. Create a vision.  It is important that you know exactly what success means to you.  To help with this, write down or draw a picture of what your success will look like; your 'Vision'.
  2. Split your Vision into a number of individual goals.  It is my experience that most people's goals revolve around house, job, car and family but you need to include everything that's important to you.
  3. Decide on the steps you will need to take to reach each goal;  effectively creating separate but parallel 'paths'.
  4. With your vision and pathways established, it is now up to you to follow your paths and keep your eye on your vision as you move towards it.
​This is not a simple thing to do well and keeping to the pathways you build can be difficult.
Suggested Video.
What is Success (Nick LaRovere).