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Do you want to try to define what success in life means to you?
Help yourself to your self help Planner!
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Now back to your Planner. You know, the notions of "succeeding" and "success", have been around as long as mankind, and current definitions have endured for at least three generations, namely for ourselves, for our parents, and for our grandparents.
Fifty years ago The Concise Oxford Dictionary defined success as "...good fortune, time well spent, triumph, winner, champion, accomplishment of end aimed at, and attainment of wealth or fame or position..."
Thirty-five years ago Roget's Thesaurus provided the following similar terms to success, namely "...progress, advancement, improvement, betterment, ascent, promotion..."
Today, if you search the Web, you will see very similar contemporary themes for success, namely "...an occurrence which attains its intended outcome, an achievement, prosperity, celebrity and fame..."
Three Key Points Emerge!
First, Success in Life can mean many things in different ways to different people. It's not just about making stacks of money. It may be about simply achieving in life to the best of your ability.
It may be about making the most of your life, not only for yourself, but also in terms of your impact on the lives of others.
It may mean a combination of success in work life, family life, social life, and in life at various stages from birth through to maturity.
We only have one life. We should therefore look upon Success in Life holistically, in other words, in a total sense, of which work and career naturally form important parts -- after all, we all have to earn a living.
Keywords which come to mind when we think about Success in Life, include (in random order):
Health, career, wealth, happiness, security, recognition, satisfaction, glory, fame.
Contribution, achievement, excellence, fulfillment, sport, entertainment, academics.
Entrepreneur, service to others, pursuit of interests, use of abilities, family and friends.
Leadership, support of a cause, caring and sharing, winning, designing, creating.
....the list goes on and on! Now think of more words of your own.
Second, success is much about something that is intended, rather than just happening by accident (although of course it can happen by accident). By this I mean that success, by whatever definition, is something invariably aimed at.
As you will understand when you undertake the full uSucceed in Life Journey, 85 % of the successful people whose biographies I researched, exhibited an achievement orientation when they were young people. For them, success was much about something that was intended, rather than happening just by accident. Some of them when young were quite ambitious, and others, driven self-starters.
Third, if comparable notions about success have been around for three generations, then young people, their parents, and even their grandparents have a lot in common when it comes to the subject of success, suggesting that family influence, as addressed later, is likely an important element underpinning Success in Life.
Indeed, 83% of the successful people whose biographies I researched, benefited from positive family influence when they were young people, be this in the form of their parents acting as role models, or through their specific advice, or where they were given a head-start in life as a result of their well-endowed family circumstances.
Two More Important Points About Success In Life
First, it's important not to let the desire to achieve Success in Life become so all-consuming, that ethics become breached, laws become ignored, and consequences for others become adverse. We are all aware of the expression "power corrupts" -- don't let the pursuit and attainment of success corrupt you!
Second, there is the saying that you have to "make it by thirty ". This is not the case. While some people may make it by thirty, many take a lot longer, as was the case in my research of the biographies of one hundred successful people.
What is Your Definition Of Success In Your Life?
I now encourage you to try to start to define for yourself what you mean by Success in Life. Clearly this will likely have something to do with work and career, and importantly, something to do with the rest of your life -- after all, you only have one life and you need to make the most of it!
