“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
Maya Angelou
Understanding what success means to you is a process. It seems simple, but it’s not. One person wants to build a business, another wants to spend time with her kids, and still another wants to give back to his community and make a difference. To gain a greater sense of fulfillment, your actions and goals must be tied to your values and definition of success. That’s the simple truth!
How do YOU define success?
Does it mean being in a loving relationship, inspiring others, creating jobs, helping people change their lives, having time for yourself, creating a vibrant community, laughing with friends, being promoted, having a house, or making a certain amount of money? Success is dynamic; at different times in your life, it will take on various meanings.
Regardless of what you do for work, your level of education, how much money you have in the bank, your title at work, or where you live, you need to define what success means to you.
Society offers many definitions of success: where we should work or go to school, what we should do with our lives. The reality is that the meaning of success shifts at various stages in our life.
When you’re twenty-two, success may mean getting your first job.
When you’re thirty-two, success many mean buying your first home.
When you’re forty-two, success may mean starting your own business and working for yourself.
These “definitions” will continuously shift, so you need ask the question often and look inward, not outward, for answers.
I talk to clients regularly who have achieved success in different areas of their life—whether it’s in their career, relationships, finances, or healthy living. The fascinating part is each one has a different vision for success today. For example, one client wants to run fifty-two marathons in fifty-two weeks to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer (www.MarathonGoddess.com), another wants to expand her yoga business globally while spending time with her family, and another client just wants some “me” time. Again, success will mean completely different things to each of us. The catch is depending on how you define success, you will need to take different actions to ultimately feel fulfilled.
What does success mean to you, and are your actions and goals aligned with your vision?
Alissa Finerman is a Professional Business/Life Coach, motivational speaker, and author of Living in Your Top 1%. She works with individuals and organizations to help them think bigger, redefine what’s possible, and get results. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has appeared on national radio stations such as CBS and Clear Channel Radio and has worked with the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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*Photo by seeveeaar.
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