Defining Success

This is how Paul J. Meyer, personal development and growth guru, defines success. “Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile, predetermined, personal goals”.

How do you define success? For some people it may be the accumulation of wealth. For others it may be to finally have their kids finish college. Still for others it may be retirement and playing golf everyday. Success is a personal thing and unique to each individual. Just as you should have clearly defined goals in place, you should also have a clear picture of what success looks like for you. It is difficult to measure success in your life without a clear picture of what success looks like for you. This should be done without the influence of others.

This brings up another question. Are you allowing other people to define success for you? Have family members, society, or friends defined success for you? Sometimes we get caught up in what other people have defined as success for us. We see the lifestyles of the rich and famous thinking that is the true definition of success. This may be true for some people but not for others. I would say you are successful if you are passionate about what you are doing and pursuing worthwhile goals in your business and in your life.

Give this some thought and write down what success would look like for you. Be very specific and don’t just say “I want to be a millionaire” or “I want to get my kids through college”. What would your family life be like? How much money would it take for you to feel successful? Write down an actual dollar amount. If you really look at how much money it would take to be financially independent, you will be surprised at how small this figure may be. What kind of car would you drive and what would your house be like? Get very specific with this and write down all the details. Look at each area of your life: health, spirituality, finances, family, and business. What would success look like in each of these areas? Once you complete this exercise, start writing down specific goals that will get you a step closer to building your success. I will address the topic of goal setting in a future article.

How would you define success in marketing your services or business? Again, you must be very specific and write down actual dollar amounts, number of clients, or whatever else you want to use as a measurement of your marketing success. It is crucial to know what defines success in marketing your services. Otherwise you may spend money in the wrong place and not know what type return you are getting for the dollars spent. Having a system in place to measure your marketing success is critical to your business.

Success means different things to different people. You are the only one who can truly know if you have attained success in your life. It should be the right thing for you whether it is success in the area of finances, family, spirituality, health, business, or whatever. Going through the exercises mentioned above will get you one step closer to being successful.