Friday, February 1, 2008

Success is Getting What you Want

What is success? In my opinion, success is whatever you want it to be. Getting and achieving anything that you want is success. Getting what you want is success, no matter what it is.
If you are after something, anything, and you get it, that's success. It could be to catch a train or bus, to arrive early for an interview, or even find the location where the interview was being held. Success could be chairing a difficult meeting well and effectively. It could be preparing a difficult meal for the first time.


Success is whatever you want it to be.


It doesn't have to be a big white yacht with massive sails, a fire-red Ferrari, a luxury cruise around the world or a seven bedroom mansion at the beach.


Success can be to save enough money to go on a summer holiday abroad, perhaps to buy yourself and your children a mountain bicycle, or maybe to see your child participate in a school play, to clench a contract or make a big sale at work, or even to meet your budget or target.
Nobody dictates what your success is but you.


Someone I knew interpreted success, as someone who can communicate effectively and with great confidence, when doing a presentation to his regional managers. He saw himself successful when he produced awesome presentations. That was success for him.


On the other hand, another person I worked with years ago always put herself down. In Spanish class, she would have her head down and avoid being chosen to volunteer for a class activity by the teacher. When picked, she would quietly and shyly play her part.


I once sat with her during a short break and openly asked why she kept putting herself down. She said that's what she'd done all her life. She felt a failure and never succeeded in anything.
I said, anything? She said, anything!


She claimed she did not succeed in a single thing in her life. I found that impossible to believe. She's a married lady with a happy husband, children and grandchildren, to say the least. So how can she not have had any successes in her life?


Again, it's how we see success and how we measure success. Her vision of success was a huge amount of money in the bank, long holidays three times a year, vacation properties, designer clothes and more.


That's her vision of success.


And because she has not achieved that, she felt a failure, and she had led herself to believe that she had not been successful in anything in her entire life. This lady had wiped out of her mind all of her life's successes because she had not achieved the luxurious lifestyle that she wanted.

Granted, she can still persevere and strive for the luxury things she desires. But she must also remember the successes she achieved in her life, so she may gain the confidence and strength from those previous successes to elevate her confidence and courage. This will dramatically increase her momentum to pursue her luxury dream: her ultimate success.


What is success to one person may be totally different than the other person, not simply by what it is, but also how by big or small it is. The person I mentioned earlier considered success as giving a great presentation, whereas the lady saw success as living a luxury lifestyle.


Whatever success to you it may be, you have the capability to achieve it. You can achieve that success that you want.


Success is within you.


Success in life is becoming what you want to be, to have what you want to have, and to do what you want to do. Believe that and let confidence take the lead role in getting you what it is that you want to have, become and do.


Practise the game of success by reminiscing over your past successes, no matter how large or small. Success is success which breeds success.


Feel proud, feel great! Feel successful.

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