I Want it All

When I sit back and think about my life, I often wonder am I doing enough. Am I achieving my goals? Then I begin to think about success. What does that mean? So here comes the check list. I own a house, I own a car, I have a career, good salary, a child that is on her own, I travel, I have friends. But does this mean success? Does this mean I have accomplished everything? What is success?

Here’s what I have found. Success means something different to each person. Who are we to judge someone else’s success? If you judge someone else’s success aren’t you putting your personal goals on them? I found a definition that really helped me think about success differently.

Achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. Success can also mean completing an objective or reaching a goal. Success can be expanded to encompass an entire project or be restricted to a single component of a project or task. It can be achieved within the workplace, or in an individual’s personal life. For example, if an individual’s personal goal is to be accepted in a new career, success would occur after the individual has been officially accepted into his or her new place of employment. I found this definition on the Business Dictionary web page. This definition is basically saying that success can have a different definition in every aspect of your life. Weight loss, career, family, financial stability can all have different success definitions. I realized that thinking about success as one be all end all thing was the reason why I was having such an issue with defining it. In order to keep myself from getting overwhelmed, I needed to break everything down into categories and give each category a success definition. Now I can analyze these categories and begin to see my progress or the lack there of. I also have to remember, these are my goals and pathway to success. I can tell you my thought process but you should develop your own.

What is your definition of success? Do you have a pathway?