Last week I challenged you to define what success means to
you. Did you do that? Do you have it written down? If you really want to make the most of this
7-part series, you will need to have done it so that the material I am sharing
with you will have maximum impact on you and what you believe about success.
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” I have heard this phrase coined many
times. But what does it mean? Most people think success is simply having a
lot of nice, neat, fancy things. That is
what our society would have you believe.
Just get the material things and you will be successful. Well, I am going to strongly disagree with
society for many reasons, but let’s dig into this deeper.
While there is a lot of truth that most successful people do
make an above-average income, basing success on income alone is very shallow. Basing one’s success on the amount of
material things they have is being narrow minded. I say this because I have been around many
people who have financed everything they have ever bought and truth be known,
they actually owned nothing. Yet on the
outside, they looked very successful. On
the inside though, their lives were a mess.
I have also met and spent time around people who have
invested hundreds, if not thousands of hours into themselves in education and
personal development and their business.
These types of people look a lot different than most. The ongoing intense investment into themselves
is almost hard to believe for some and not worth it for most.
These people have not focused on the getting or accumulating of things,
rather they have focused on becoming someone of great value when it comes to
their craft.
I have heard Jim Rohn say, “By becoming a better you, you,
will bring more to the relationship and that will make you more valuable.” The first time I heard this, it changed my
thinking. You mean I have to work on
“me”? That was a paradigm change for
me…but I got it, it made sense to me. Shortly
after this mini-revelation, I began to realize that truly successful people are
valuable and if I will work on becoming more valuable, then I am working my way
to success. It was another one of those “ahh haa” moments
for me.
So maybe being successful is not about getting all the cool
stuff. Maybe there is more. Maybe it is more about who we become rather
than what we get. Does that mean the becoming comes first and the getting comes last? Perhaps, but what exactly does the becoming part mean to me? What do I have to do, what does that entail
and what does that look like?
Everywhere I look, more and more people, places and ideas
seem to be claiming that simply making a lot of money will bring happiness to
your life. There are business models that
promote this. Books, seminars, newspaper
ads and internet sites all say the same thing:
“Are you tired of not making the kind of money you want or deserve? Well then do I have something for you.”
Does this sound familiar to
anyone?
Every time I see or hear this type of phrase, inside I
cringe. Why? Because once again people
are focusing on what they can get, not on what they can become. Ideas like these are pushing money as the main reason to do something, and
money should never be the main thing.
Yes, we all need money to live, eat and survive, but working only for
money seems to be a very shallow way to go through life. Life has so much more to offer than just
working to make money. Yes, for some,
money may be a motivator, but by a long shot, those individuals are only a tiny
segment of the overall population.
Working at something you love, something you enjoy,
something that you contribute value to and are passionate about, sounds like a
much better way to go through life. In
fact, I would be willing to bet any amount of money that the mass majority of
people would be far more driven, inspired and motivated by their passion than
money. One person with passion is far
more powerful than someone who is simply driven by money.
So is it passion that moves us toward success? Perhaps…find out more next week when we go
into part 3 in The Mindset of Success.
Have a great Friday everyone, be
blessed.
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