According to Albert Schwitzer, “success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” I have to say I agree with Mr. Schwitzer. Even if the dictionary definition is a bit different.
Success (noun)
1) Success is the achievement of something that you have been trying to do.
2) Success is the achievement of a high position in a particular field, for example, business or politics.
3) Someone or something that achieves a high position, makes a lot of money, or is admired a great deal.
Unfortunately, most of us use the second and third definitions as a metric for our success, rather than the first. However, in most cases, that’s how we were taught and now it’s the way we are wired. As Imogen Roy points out, this viewpoint of success is part of “our Western cultural baggage” and it’s been “fed to us from childhood films, magazines about celebrities, and our education system. And we swallowed it whole.”
All of this is not to say that being an expert in your field or making a lot of money and being admired isn’t equivalent to being successful. But is that what success looks like for you?
The truth is, we are all such different people, with very different interests and goals, so how are we all supposed to have the same definition of success? Many of us have been caught in the cycle of looking at success from the viewpoint of others rather than through our own lens. That’s scary. Doing things and building a life for the approval and admiration of others is bound to end in disappointment. Fundamentally, this disappointment comes because we never receive that desired approval, or we eventually realize we were living for someone else instead of following our passions.
So I have to ask, what does success look like to you? Not to your parents, your friends, your teachers; what does it look like to you? If you find yourself having trouble answering that question, then dig into your why. What drives you every day? What inspires you? Maybe it’s the big house with the five-car garage or maybe it’s a small non-profit business that serves your community; both are good answers, as long as it’s what you want for your life. Just ask yourself what you value in life, who you admire, and what kind of impact you want to make.
Then, what’s the next step? You’ve figured out what you want, but you don’t know how to get there. Regardless of what your goals are, if you want to be successful you have to build a strong foundation. While you’re learning and growing into your passion, you may also have to unlearn your current definition of what success looks like. As Arianna Huffington puts it “in accordance with success we typically think about the metrics of money and power. However, it’s time “we add a third metric. To live the lives we truly want and deserve, and not just the lives we settle for.” This third metric consists of “four pillars: well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving.”
We cannot just carelessly break free from the societal construct of success and expect immediate, effective change. We have to cultivate the new meaning of success, our meaning of success, into our lives; and we must do so with great intention. You’ve got the vision, but the vision needs to be methodically placed into a plan of action.
While success may not look the same to you as it did once before, some things haven’t changed. Success still takes a lot of hard work. It takes moving outside of your comfort zone. It takes risk. And sometimes the work towards success can be even more frightening when it’s about something we love. We’ve spent all of this time chasing the “wrong dream” or focused too much on pleasing others, so when it’s time to go for it, it can be extremely scary. Because of that, it’s just as important that we get out of our own way and not allow our “fearful thinking” to hold us back because that “pattern of thinking is halting our progress,” as explained by Jodie Cook. It won’t do us any good to have a revelation of our true purpose if we don’t design the route to get there; or even worse, knowing the route and doing nothing about it.
So have you figured it out, or are you at least ready to? Are you willing to step away from others’ definition of success and find your own? It’s ok if it scares you, it’s supposed to; that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go after it. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I have to tell you, we get one life. The life we get comes with many chances, but such a limited amount of time. So go for it, run towards what you love. Run fiercely, passionately, and live this one life to its fullest, inspired to be the best you can be!
Sources:
1) Albert Schweitzer Quote
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_schweitzer_155988
2) How To Define Your Own Version Of Success, Imogen Roy
https://imogenroy.medium.com/how-to-define-your-own-version-of-success-f9995974fc64
3) The First Step Toward Success Is Defining Success For Yourself, Christopher D. Connors
4) The 5 Habits Holding Back Your Success, Jodie Cook
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2020/07/08/habits-holding-back-your-success/?sh=42a5139c9622
5) How 9 Incredibly Successful People Define Success, Drake Baer
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-9-incredibly-successful-people-define-success-2014-5
