suc·cess·ful: accomplishing an aim or purpose
A “successful” person is someone who accomplishes an aim or purpose. But which aim or purpose? The aim of others around them, or their own aim? When we start thinking about it, it really drives home that successful is subjective.
I may be successful in my own mind because I have accomplished many of the aims and purposes I’ve set out to accomplish. However, I have a lot more aims I haven’t quite hit yet, so I don’t consider myself as successful as I want to be. I may not be successful to you, because I haven’t accomplished an aim or purpose that you associate with success. You might even consider me successful but not for the same reasons I do. Here’s the thing, we are all right.
What you may be wrong about is what life looks like for a successful person. I’ve had the opportunity to sit down for meals, be coached by, and learn from people that are far more successful than I am. One thing I have learned is success built from hard work and consistency isn’t obtained without struggle and failure. That’s what I want to share with you in the few minutes it takes you to read this article.
You’ve heard the saying, “nothing worth having comes easy.” Well, I disagree. Winning the lottery is pretty easy. You just have to buy enough tickets and have the odds roll in your favor. And I still would say the winnings are worth having… But those odds are pretty terrible, and I believe I can get that money with some good old fashioned blood, sweat, and tears.
It’s that blood, sweat, and tears that are the struggles of a successful person. It’s so easy to be jealous of others success, but if you saw those struggles you probably wouldn’t be so jealous. I’ve heard stories of complete failure that turned into amazing success. I’ve heard stories of crippling anxiety that was hidden behind a strong presence and personality at work. Sadder still, I’ve heard of terrible things happening to people in the pursuit of success who never got to see it come to be.
“Successful” people aren’t people that happened to get lucky. They are people just like you in that they have feelings, anxieties, hurdles, road blocks, people who try to stop them, friends who became swallowed up by envy and turn away, etc. What separates you from the success you seek is your perseverance of will to see the purpose through. The sharpshooter aim that allows you to let nothing and no one stop you from succeeding.
So, are you trying to be successful? Find your purpose, aim, and execute. And surround yourself with other successful people who want to coach you, pick you up when you stumble, and congratulate you when you hit your target.
“People with goals succeed because they know where they are going” – Earl Nightingale