Since the first word that appears on the description bar is 'Success', I thought it would be a good idea to talk about 'Success' in the first article. How does one define success? Success means to achievement or accomplishment of something. If I go by the meaning of the word, then it does not help me to alleviate myself.
I have been a late starter in life. I have done everything late...I started walking at the age of 1.2 years and started talking at almost 2 years of age. It is therefore not surprising that 'success' in life came late to me. I have always dreamt of a good career in my choosen field and I have struggled for 11 years to accomplish that. Did I term it as success when I got a good job? - Yes. Was I HAPPY/SATISFIED with my achievement? - No.
There is no yardstick for success - to say that achieving such and such thing would bring success to me and make me happy. If one achieves the first milestone, then he/she would have another milestone to attain; does the person find happiness ever, is he/she ever satisfied???
Through the months I have learnt that success cannot be quantified. Sucess is the way you look at things, in other words....success is defined by your attitude. Till very recently my formula for success looked something like this:
Having + Doing + Being = Success ... from Outside In
That is what most of the people do. One of my acquiantances said that he would work very hard till the age of 35-40, earn enough money to keep him and his family in luxury and then quit his job by 40 and finally get a life for himself. He has done everything to achieve this but somewhere there still lurks a feeling of dis-satisfaction and lack of meaning.
Many people have their priorities upside down. They can't get past the 'Having' stage and go to the 'Being' stage because they feel that they do not have enough yet. They think that what defines their success is how much money they have, the property they own, the things they possess. We would be happier if we could modify our attitude and modify the formula for success as:
Being + Doing + Having = Success...from Inside Out
Being: Be YOURSELF by knowing who you really are, knowing what's important to you. You should know what you do best and what makes you unique as a person. This introspection and clarity helps achieve the next step.
Doing: Do those things you do best and want to do. Utilize the gifts and talents you have in a way to help others. Touch the lives of the people in meaningful ways. This helps you acieve the next stage.
Having: Having a life is more important than having a lifestyle. A life oriented around doing whatever is important to you. A life spent with loved ones. A life with financial rewards for doing loved things.
Most of us are either doing things Outside In or are only halfway to doing things Inside Out. If you are following the Outside In formula then you would need a major shift in priorities to FEEL success. If you are half way through to following Inside Out then just a minor adjustment in priorities is all that is necessary.
So, success is what you perceive to be and not what other's perceive it to be because nobody can know you better than you.
PS: Most of this article has been picked up from the book "52 Ways of Living Success". Thanks to the author for changing my viewpoint which has helped me to help to help influence the reader's viewpoint too.
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