What is Success?

 

I appreciate this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson; I’m not sure if anyone could say it better: Success is…..

“To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty. To find the best in others. To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition. To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived……This is to have succeeded.”

Typically when we aren’t feeling successful its because we forgot to include an understanding that the journey to success will be a wild and bumpy ride.

Often times, when our plan bumps up against reality, we give up.  We tell ourselves: It’s too hard! This wasn’t supposed to have happened! This must be life telling me I’m wrong!  In other words, we moan and grown, burry our heads in the sand and blame others for our struggles and failures.

What if Thomas A. Edison gave up after his many failures ? What if Abraham Lincoln gave up? Our world would be a very different place indeed!

“I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln

What we forget is that to achieve success there will be failures. These shouldn’t be viewed as negatives or that we’ve been unsuccessful; instead we need to view failures as providers of clarify to our vision and suppliers of missing details, knowledge, and know how, that are necessary to reach the finish line.

As you may already know, I’m a huge fan of quotes; so much so that I created a quotes tab within my blog. 🙂

For me, quotes help to remind me when life is hard, feels unfair, and frankly it just plain old sucks…. it’s up to me to hit pause, pick my head up out of the manusha of life, do a status check, and then look around and see what needs to be learned. From this vantage point I can redirect my path to success, add newly gained perspectives and revised goals so I can set out on the journey again. I may not be headed in the same direction but it will be on more solid ground!

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

Here’s some thoughts on what most successful people do to achieve success.  These steps are simple and  with our intention and attention, they can help us on our life long journey to success.

I’ll leave you this week with one last quote from Maya Angelou. Her quote is also simple, but effective, and 100% in our control!

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”