What Is Success ?
January 9, 2020
What is success for you?
This is one question for which I could never give myself a satisfactory answer.
- Getting that next promotion was not it.
- Being Financially independent- This was a nice concept, but I was not clear what financial independence meant.
- Was it the responsibility,power and respect my job gave me- having spent time a long time in a Large MNC Bank , I was under no illusion. I was dispensable.
- Achieving work objectives every year, could that be it? This felt more like a rat race that held no inspiration.
- Being a good parent, husband and son. This was important but fluffy as a definition.
- Having bigger and better material assets compared to others. This is a slippery path.Taking this reference was likely to make me feel more like a failure as there is always some one better placed than I am, at any point.
I have recently figured out one definition that seems to be working for me.
What is it that excites me when I wake up everyday ? It is doing whatever is required to create value value for myself, my family, my workplace and my community. Creating value is that underlying “purpose” for me. It guides my life decisions, offers a sense of direction, shapes goals and defines the actions I need to take every day.
I create value for myself when I invest time and effort in developing my skills and capabilities that make me a better person. I create value for my family, workplace and community when I put my skills, capabilities and emotions for the well-being and benefit of others.
Success for me is when I show up at my best everyday living my purpose. I don’t need any external validation to know if I am successful. Only I will know if I am spending my time the right way , doing the right things , in the right manner such that I am creating value. The sweet satisfaction I will experience when I have done everything possible to create value, (without giving my self any excuses) , is the success I seek every day. There are days when I am successful , there are days when I fail miserably. It does not matter. Success for me is in being comfortable with failing, while trying to create value.
[…] Today, thanks to the exercise of “writing my obituary” , I have been able to discover my purpose and what I want from life. I wrote about it in one of my earlier posts. https://ownmygrowth.com/2020/01/09/what-is-success/ […]