Am I Successful Yet?

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT BEING SUCCESSFUL BUT WORK TOWARD BEING SIGNIFICANT AND THE SUCCESS WILL NATURALLY FOLLOW” – Oprah Winfrey

From the moment we are born, we are almost subconsciously guided towards being “successful”. However, do we truly know the definition of it? How does we know if we are already successful? How does a person attain success? What does success make you feel? These are just some questions that should circle your mind when you hear the word “SUCCESS”. People often run after success with very little knowledge about it. While there is a lot of self-perspective meaning of success, meaning that it can be subjective to each individual, the most common definition of success, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is: favorable or desired outcome and the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence. It can also be a certain social status or fame. But, is success really something tangible like wealth or an abundance of cars or the intangible, like the feeling of fame and attention or a specific social status?

I believe that success encompasses three things (and we will dive a little deeper into them)

· Attainment or accomplishment of a goal

· Being truly grateful and happy

· But still having the drive, determination and humbleness to continue improving

The first part of success is when you have accomplished one of your big goals. This may be in terms of your career, school, relationships, finances, anything. When you feel as though you have reached your target, you have made your dreams come true, you have completed the first portion of success. Sometimes you will have small successes along the way to your big achievement. Do not disregard these small victories such as learning a new skill or passing a hard exam. The accomplishment of your objective in life, that should provide you some success- societal success and some personal success. When you have lived a disciplined life, complied with your responsibilities and stayed accountable for your actions, it led to the attainment of the first portion of success. Once this is achieved, being greedy, we all will strive for more. It’s natural and thus, we will be on our way to obtaining more success. So, dream big, continue hoping and working hard towards your goal.

The second portion is when you are grateful for what you have and happy, truly. This does not mean in materialistic ways, although for some it may and that’s completely okay. It means being personally aware of what you are grateful for in your life right now and extending that gratitude towards others. Self-awareness is important in determining what you are grateful for. For example, you could be grateful for your beautiful home, cars, your increase in productivity, your glowing skin, etc. It can range from tangible to intangible things. After determining the countless things that you are grateful for, trust me when I say countless, if you are truly happy with your life right now, you have achieved another portion of success.

Happiness is almost a mindset. It’s a choice. Small things will make you happy. From beautiful weather to a warm cup of coffee and a good book in your hand. There will be a sense of serenity, fulfilment and peacefulness inside you. Gratitude and happiness are interconnected so one cannot fully be achieved without the other. So, once both are achieved, along with the first portion of success, you can almost call yourself successful. Just one more point!

The last part of success is being able to continue improving on yourself and striving to achieve more. Success begins to deteriorate if you fall victim to stagnancy. Remaining stuck in your life, no matter how much you have achieved or how happy and grateful you may be, is going to hinder your success or your attainment of it. As the world is constantly evolving, technological advances are being made, changes are occurring in our societies, you must continue to improve. Having another goal ready to achieve is almost essential. This time, it does not have to be a financial goal or a career goal – it can simply be learning spiritual things, how to be more accepting of things you are unable to tolerate, how to improve your personal relationships, etc.

You should not limit yourself to what you already did but try to focus on achieving more. The ability to continue to learn and improve comes from staying humble, accepting mistakes and doing your best not to make them again. You should not settle and stop, keep moving forward and trying new things. Constantly pushing your limits and accepting failures with open arms (it can be hard but not impossible). As you seek additional knowledge from anywhere and anyone (choose wisely where and from who), you will be more curious and have an urge to gain a better understanding of what you are learning. Furthermore, overcoming your fears something else to strive for. The last portion of success is achieved when you constantly and consistently improve, learn and overcome insecurities.

To conclude, success is subjective to each person and their perspectives. The main definition is provided to you by dictionaries around the world, but I have explained to you what my definition of success is and how to measure it. One thing to be aware of is not to compare your success with someone else. Depending on their self-perspective and outlook on life, their success is vastly different from yours. Lead your life towards what you believe to be success for you personally. Every single person in this world is able to be successful or already is but is not aware. So, work towards your success. I have full faith in each one of you that you will attain it. I will be in the background cheering for you as you walk on your path towards success.