A Talk About Success

Click the banner below and get a free audiobook from 150,000
available fiction and non-fiction titles for your iPhone,
Android, Kindle or mp3 player.


I am not sure you know this, but a while ago I was a
self-development blogger. My blog was called Life Probabilities
and although I am no longer the owner and the author of the blog
it still exists.  Now Vinod is the owner of the Life
Probabilities and he is covering self development related topics
there so you can check out the blog if you like similar
topics.


So today I will present you with one of the blog posts I wrote at
Life Probabilities about success. Since the thoughts I had are
still valid I decided that I could share them with you here too.


Who doesn’t want to be successful?


Yup, that’s what I thought. No one.


These days there are many talks about becoming successful, not
giving up after failure, getting there, striving for perfection
and such. All that is supposed to motivate and encourage…


But sometimes, just the opposite happens.


Sometimes reading all those articles and coming back to where you
are at that moment may make you even more depressed.


Why is that?


I think it is because many self-development authors contribute to
the stereotyping of the meaning of success. The same thing does
the TV, the media and the society.


If you ask around about who is successful many will somehow come
up with the names of celebrities, rich businessmen, top managers
or well-known people.


No one will think of a single mother who raised a creative and
happy child. No one will come up with the name of a person, who
left everything behind in order to follow his dream. No one will
recall the young guy, who spent days and nights outside with his
camera in order to finally make that perfect shot he had in mind.


What we need to understand is that success is not a fixed term.
Success is different for everyone. For one being successful may
mean climbing up the career ladder. For someone else it may mean
not working for a corporation. For someone success may be being
rich and famous. For someone else it is about a happy family and
genuine friends. For some writing and completing a full length
novel is already a success, but for someone else the success is
becoming a bestselling author.


Besides that your vision of success may be evaluated
periodically. At different stages of your life you may have
different understandings of success. Life does not stand still
and you have the right to change your mind and follow different
goals.


Success is a complex term. It is not always obvious and visible.
Being true to your values may be a success itself. Reaching inner
peace and harmony, may also mean that you are successful.


In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in
Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey he has one exercise. You have
to imagine your funeral. Think about who will be there and what
will they say about you and your life. Surpassingly what you
would like them to say is what you are supposed to achieve during
your life.


For me success is living so that the words I would like to be
told at my funeral are told when the time comes.


By the way for you, the listeners of the Write 2B Read podcast,
Audible is offering a...