What Is Success?

I recently read a thread in a forum in which somebody was dismissive of other people who wrote about success. His argument was that they wrote about success but were not successful themselves.

I made no comment, just smiled as others were diving in to dismiss what was nothing more than a self glorifying remark. To make such a statement he must have had a very narrow minded view of success, presumably relating success to massive wealth. Even on such a narrow, and plainly silly, definition, how on earth could he know whether others who wrote about success had been successful or not? Clearly, he could not.

With that statement he had insulted just about every person on the planet who could write. Success is a very personal and individual achievement. You could examine the life of any other person, and pinpoint successes in their lives; and if they could write, they could write about success. Those successes may be beyond the vision of somebody who is arrogant and judges people by their level of conspicuous wealth. However, those little successes in that person's life may be of relative importance to that person, whether a child, teenager or adult, and also to their family and friends.

Success is always relative, and can relate to just about any aspect of human existence. Nobody should just be dismissed as unsuccessful by others. An individual can, of course, be unsuccessful in a particular endeavour; even so, if they set out on that endeavour at all, then they are more "successful" than somebody who never found the impetus to do so, even though they want to.

It is even possible to "succeed" and "fail" at the same time. Taking an example from my own life, in my late teens I wrote my first two novels. I felt very satisfied, and considered the second novel at least a success, even though I could not find a publisher and never made a penny from it. As a novelist, I was a failure; yet I felt success.

When considering your own success it is worth bearing in mind a dictionary definition, just to help keep it in perspective: success is "An event that accomplishes its intended purpose." That is really all it is; it does not have to be about conspicuous wealth, nor does it have to be highly public.

The most obvious successes are, of course, visible in public and can often be accompanied by conspicuous wealth. However, you will usually find those successes have been preceded by a lot of smaller and less obvious successes, and failures as well, all of which were essential to that ultimate and big success that everyone sees today.

A famous and successful musician, for example, may have had their first success in mastering their first tune on a guitar. It was an essential success, but small and insignificant at the time. That same musician may have had their first public performance, when everything went wrong and the audience booed, and been dismissed by those present as a failure. Yet, it was an important step to their ultimate success.

Long term success in anything depends on a series of steps, each of which has to be taken to get to the ultimate destination. Each step can be its own little success, or sometimes a failure that sparks the greater effort that leads to ultimate success. Each is as important as the other.

Have you ever heard the expression, "if you don't believe you can do it you can't"? This holds true for business especially since many when beginning a new venture have some inherent doubts that can ultimately be the undoing of the business before it even has the chance to begin.

Our beliefs have a significant impact on how well or how poorly we do in any endeavor. This is even more powerful in the world of business because many of us have had various beliefs instilled upon us since childhood by our friends, family, co-workers and the like.

The worst form are those we generate for ourselves. Self limiting beliefs can destroy a business before it has had a chance to get off the ground simply because we possess the doubt that it will ever succeed.

To better one's chance of success one most first find within oneself those beliefs that could have detriment towards the business' ability to succeed. Just as easily as one may ruin a chance for success based on negative beliefs, one may enhance it's chances by replacing those limiting beliefs with positive views of the business.

The subconscious mind will accept both negative and positive views of what can and cannot be done with little regard for how helpful or not the information is. So please choose wisely that which you feed your subconscious mind with beliefs that will help to prevent you from limiting yourself and your business.

The stronger one's belief is towards the positive the greater one's chances for success are. Combine this with drive and persistence and nearly anything can be accomplished.

Do not allow the mind to ruin something before it has a chance for success. However due use some pragmatism. Purely going on optimistic beliefs in something does not guarantee it's success, merely a positive framework to put behind the effort.

When I first started in the sport of cycling about 9 years ago, I was very nervous about hitting things I didn't want to - trees, holes, rocks, drainage grates, or pillars depending on whether I was riding on the road or on a trail. The thing I noticed was that if I focused on the obstacle by looking down at it, more often than not I hit it. Of course, this convinced me even more that I needed to be ultra safe or I'd be doomed (much like the mother in A Christmas Story who is convinced Ralphie will "shoot his eye out" if he gets the BB Gun), I continued to concentrate even harder on the obstacle. You can guess what happened. I hit more rocks, holes, and tree roots while narrowly avoiding the really painful obstacles like poles, trees, and cars (thank goodness). It didn't take me long to figure out both by trial and error and by reading bicycling magazines that you need to look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go. Alas, the moment I started looking ahead of the obstacle and envisioning a clear, clean line to ride past the obstacle, miraculously I breezed by without incident. As I got more experienced I not only could do this consistently, I could do it effortlessly without a death grip and body tension fueled by fear.

While you may not want to ever put your behind on a saddle and pedal along on two wheels, you probably do want to move through your life in a manner that makes it easier to move past the inevitable obstacles along the way. And, when you find yourself in an unwanted situation where you're temporarily in a bowl of pits instead of a bowl full of cherries, you can use this skill to keep the faith and move up and out of the hole.

As you can see from the bicycling example, your energy flows to the very thing on which you are focused. As a result, you get more of that particular thing; in the case of riding the bike, you get impact with a physical obstacle and an unpleasant ride. Conversely, if you look where you want to go and focus your energies there, you give more power to the very thing you desire resulting in a more effortless and enjoyable ride.

How this concept translates to your life and business is very similar. If you stay focused on your vision and goals while taking action to move forward, you are far more likely to make them a reality. Even when you find yourself where you don't want to be and feel like you're stuck in a black hole, the ability to focus on where you want to go versus obsessing about being stuck in the hole can mean the difference between progress and a dead end.

Since so many of the thoughts we think each day are unconscious and our minds are filled with chatter, it can sometimes be elusive to determine where our focus really lies at any given moment. Considering the fact that our focus possesses so much power, it really pays to become aware of our thoughts and where our sights are set at any given moment.

Consider the following questions:

* What do I think about most often? What is the ongoing chatter and broken record that keeps playing in my head?

* What do I spend my time talking about when I interact with others? Am I talking about what's not working or am I talking about what's right in a situation?

* Am I where I want to be with my relationships, business, career, physical health, etc.? If not, am I focusing on the problem or working to reveal the source and explore solutions?

* Am I looking where I want to go or where I don't want to go?

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