I read all of the time how this person is successful or how that person is successful, but whose standards of success are being used? The person deeming them successful? Yours? Mine?
This naturally got me to wondering If I have been successful in my own life. In doing so, I oftentimes find myself comparing my accomplishments, or lack thereof, with that of others, which is a terrible habit to develop for several reasons:
- We don’t all begin from the same starting point.
- We each have a unique set of skills.
- Sometimes our biggest failures (eventually) lead to our finest successes.
- We don’t have the same goals or motivations driving us.
Obviously there are more but, for the sake of brevity, these will suffice.
Questions to ponder:
Is a person honestly successful if they earn millions of dollars, but neglect their family in the process?
What about someone who is flat broke, monetarily speaking, but is fulfilling a dream of working in the ministry?
How about an addict who overcame his or her addiction?
All three are successes in their own right, but they may not be what you and I would consider a success.
…Not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.”
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb
How you define success is just that: how YOU define it. Don’t let someone convince you otherwise just because they interpret things differently.
Yesterday me and my friend we are arguing on what the true meaning of success is. They all tell me that success has to do with the huge amount of money one have in his or her account but I totally disagree with them, money should not be the ruler for measuring success.
After so much argument I ask them this question “mahatma Gandhi died without owing a penny to his name while john d. rockefeller died a billionaire so would u now say that mahatma Gandhi is not successful?
They couldn’t answer.
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And that is so true! Money isn’t and shouldn’t be the only standard to measure success. Everyone has their idea of what success is, and it can mean different things for many people! Thank you for sharing!
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You are welcome
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This is very insightful! Great post!
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Thanks for reading! 😁
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Success is when I love what I live for! Part of my life is to take pictures of natures … I usually think to myself …How I love to take pictures … but that is a part of my life ….I love Mother Earth’s beautiful nature and I want to share with you what I can! ❤
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Well I’m glad you’re sharing, your photos are beautiful! 😀
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Thanks a lot Tyler! 😉
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Really makes sense. I don’t want to drown myself with frustration because I didn’t make it the way others did. Each of us make our own story. We can’t all be the Princess/Prince in a fairy tale, others have to take other great roles. 🙂
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Yep, you’re exactly right! Drowning yourself in frustration is not worth it in the end! Thanks for reading! 😀
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I believe it’s wrong to define it by material standards…in life it’s more important to be happy and have beloved people or family with whom one can share beautiful moments :)…Great post my friend
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I absolutely agree! The material things will fall away and we’ll just be left with the relationships we’ve either cultivated or neglected. Thanks so much for reading! 🙂
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Success really is completely individual, like you say, it depends on so many diffent things – the lives we lead, the challenges we face, etc. You need to ask yourself if you feel successful, and that’s all that matters! 🙂
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That’s absolutely correct! There’s too many variables to settle on one definition. It’s definitely depends on the individual.
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Great blog post and I like your take on success. I have found that my success in the business world is due to the fact that I follow the careers of those who are more successful than myself. I have been following the career of Mark Hurd for the last few years now, since he has taken over at Oracle. I have also been impressed with his leadership and ability to turn a company around. I have closely following his statements at OpenWorld 2016 and I am excited for what he has in store and I am looking forward to the direction that Oracle is heading in the next few years.
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success is different to everyone, i think success is when you are happy with what you do….nice post!
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