I, like so many of you, want to become successful but what does it really mean to become successful and can you use the word in a general and/or entirety context? Or can it perhaps only be used in context with a single endeavor.
Society teaches us that success can be found in a good education, well paying job, money, house, car etc. And we, the good little ants that we are, accept societies definition of success and just follow the other ants without taking the time to doubt or even try to think independently. Many years later when we are sitting in our big house, tired after a long day at a demanding job, drinking whiskey and thinking about how the end is drawing nearer we realize that maybe we should have done things differently. We never took the time to really get to know ourselves and figure out what made us happy in this life, how could we? We were busy following the rules of society and working hard at becoming “successful” according to their standard.
I believe that success cannot be measured in money, possessions, reputation, achievements or any other general standard because success is different for each and every one of us. The process of becoming successful can be described in three steps.
1. Know yourself.
As strange as it may sound 99% of people never take the time to get to know themselves. They don’t really know what makes them happy or what makes them sad, they don’t know their limitations or what they are capable of achieving, they just assume that the same rules that apply to others apply to them. Before you can do anything else you must figure out who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, your dreams and nightmares.
2. Know what you want out of life.
When you have figured out who you are then you can start thinking about how you want to live your life. What do you feel that you have to accomplish before you die? What do you think will make you the happiest and make your life the most fulfilling? Here is a chance for you to define what success is to you.
3. Work towards becoming successful.
Now that you know what your want to achieve in this life you just spend the rest of your life working on it. Because you have gone through the long process of figuring out what success is to you and as long as you work towards that goal, no matter if you achieve it or not, you will be able to spend the rest of your life happy knowing that you are on the right track and that your trying your hardest.
So I guess that is my definition of how to find success and happiness in your life. The interesting part is that most of us will have very different opinions on what success really is after we have taken the time to dive deep into our souls. This means that we are no longer comparing ourselves with the people around us and will perhaps be a bit less jealous of others since the only person we can compare ourselves with is us ourselves.
At this point I want to challenge you to think if you’re following your dreams or chasing after society’s definition of success. Will you be happy with your life when the end comes?