Define Success for You

Many people get caught pursuing what society deems as success. If you don’t take the time to figure out your own vision of success your ego will do it for you. This inevitably leads to trying to please or impress others: co-workers, parents, significant others, even strangers. It’s important to define success for you.

In the corporate world, people measure success by how well someone climbs the ladder. With each step up comes additional responsibility. While this responsibility sounds great on paper, the reality can be quite different. Let’s look at the successful corporate business person that has risen to a position of managing large groups of people. This may sound like a great position, but let’s examine what this person faces day to day. He employs people that experience family conflicts, divorces, addictions, and loss of loved ones. He makes some bad hiring decisions resulting in HR issues and lawsuits. The business slows and he has to lay people off. He shoulders full responsibility for creating a potentially catastrophic impact on their lives. As a caring human being and someone who has achieved “success,” all of these things impact him.

Some people are wired to deal with these types of challenges and for them, managing large numbers of people truly does represent success. Others, who internalize their challenges, create a nightmare for themselves. For this second group, this is not success. They need to get clarity on what success means for them.

The point is that success is the progressive realization of YOUR goals, not someone else’s. The first step is to brainstorm and write down what success looks like for you. Do this with as much clarity as you can. Once you have a clear picture, the next step is to create a plan of how get there. As you execute on your plan you begin to move closer to your goal. As you do, celebrate each incremental win along the way. This is progressive realization.

Stop doing what other people want you to do and start following your own passion. In order to truly achieve success you must define success for you, by getting clear about your passion. Once you do, simply align your goals accordingly.