What does success mean to you?

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Success means different things to different people. Even to people in the same activity, class or event, success may mean a different thing to each one. For some people, simply appearing in an event such as a pageant is success; to others being in the top 5 or only being number 1 qualifies as success. Happiness results when we get a healthy dose of success or a feeling of success in our affairs and endeavours.

Considering how important that regular dose of ‘feeling of success’ is to our well-being, it is critically important that we know what success means in all of our endeavours. Each time you make decisions about the future or anything, please be sure to gain clarity about the following:


1.     How does what I wish to do align with my vision of the future?

2.     What does success look like or mean to me?

3.     How will I differ when I become successful?

4.     What are the critical success factors?

5.     What is the price for this success & am I willing to pay it?

Applying this saved my life or at least some considerable material loss in what was a very small matter recently. 

I had decided to apply all the points from a security briefing we recently received at the office and that week I sought and used alternative routes to and from the Office. After a little research, I found out that I could use a major highway to the Office. On the 1st day I used the new route, I joined the road leading to the Office at the farthest lane on the left which was 3 lanes away from the Service lane (on the right side of the road). The point I joined the road was about 4 kilometres away from the office and I thought to myself that I would be able to navigate to the service lane in that distance and enter the Office.

But being new to the road I underestimated the nature of traffic in it. As soon as the lights turned green, it appeared that we were on a super F1 race. ‘Omo’, see as people dey run 200km/hour! I turned the indicator light (trafficator) to indicate I was going right but as I peered in my mirror, the speeding drivers behind and beside me would not abate. 



I couldn’t slow down or stop and so watched as I was carried on in that crazy stream past my Office. I made up my mind to go to the next junction, make a U-turn and try to make a second attempt to get to the Office. This time around, when I did the turn, I went straight to the Service Lane & so it was easy to turn into the Office, although I was a bit late, I had an overwhelming feeling of success. 

Many years ago I had defined what success meant to me each time I drive – Drive safely, arrive alive with the car in the same shape I left, not constitute a nuisance to other road users, including pedestrians and drive in a way to preserve them and their cars. If success that morning meant getting to the office on time and I had insisted on achieving it on that 1st run, I am fully convinced that I would have been involved in a major traffic incident. 

Each time I use that road I remember the incident and it reinforces in my mind the fact that what success means to us in each endeavour must be clear and must be in alignment with every other goal we have in life at all times, otherwise, we will run into a number of problems. One of which is that we would end up making unnecessary sacrifices to achieve it if we don’t situate it in our lives clearly. I could have endangered my life if I had insisted on getting to the Office on that first try.

Secondly, defining success clearly will prevent us from the rat race of pursuing ‘certain levels of success’, even when we could make do with what we have (lower levels). We thus spare ourselves a lot of anxiety and pain.

Thirdly, we would not know when we achieve success - when we have ‘arrived’ and would continue to look for it even when we already have it. Such misguided exhaustion! Imagine pursuing a goal, reaching it and not knowing and continuing to hustle! 



Do yourself a lot of good and boost that critical ‘feelings of success’ by always answering the critical questions listed above in all endeavours and by living your life according to the success parameters you have set in alignment with your life major goals. Do not define success by just what others say it is. Know what it means to you and go for just that. Don't let the world define happiness and success for you.

 

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