We all want success. We want to feel like the work we’ve done and the life we’re living have at least some level of significance associated with them, that we aren’t just wasting our time.
When we hear the question, “What does success look like?” we typically think of people have things like money, fame, and power. These are some of the most common attributes associated with those who are successful. However, not that many people really take the time to consider what success actually means to them in their own lives. A majority of us associate success with money and influence, but that’s in some ways an irrational thought. If you really think about it, the number of individuals in the top one percent is such a small number that anyone who sets their main life goal as joining that tiny group is likely to fail. Chances are they’ll never achieve it (unless their family is already there). Similarly, most of those who have made it to the top one percent haven’t gotten there because their goal was to become a billionaire; it was because they started with considerable family money, or because they had a product or an idea that they were passionate about, and they were able to spread that passion around and bring their ideas to others in a way that worked and kept working.
While having money isn’t wrong, it’s an odd thing to define ourselves by. "I am what I have!" And, of course, there's the inevitable question, "What’s 'enough' money?" Does having a hundred-thousand dollars equal success? A million dollars? A billion? What would ever be enough to be satisfying?
For most of us, success is found differently. We find it when we set our goals on things we are passionate about and desire in life, not on what society expects us to want or on how people around us define success. Success is unique to each of us; the simple truth is that what makes one person happy may not make the next person happy. If we fail to define success for ourselves, and instead try to pursue someone else’s path, we’re likely to find ourselves frustrated, unhappy, and feeling deeply unsuccessful.
Motivational speaker and entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said, “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” If you want to know what will make you feel successful in life, you need to determine what will make you happy, and what things matter most to you. It’s also important to realize that success doesn’t come overnight; it’s a life-long journey with many ups and downs. So if you happen to reach a point in your life where you’re feeling successful, remember that it’s possible, even likely, there’ll come a time in the future where you don’t feel quite so successful. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that nothing in our lives is guaranteed to be constant. However, if we continue to take each setback in stride, learn from them, and keep moving forward toward the things that matter most to us, any one of us can ultimately feel successful.