Success can mean many things to different people, but how can you measure success? Is it how other people perceive your accomplishments or when you feel that you have succeeded?
The Oxford English dictionary lists success as:
1. The fact that you have achieved something that you want and have been trying to do or get.
2. The fact of becoming rich or famous or of getting a high social position.
3. A person or thing that has achieved a good result and been successful.
As you can see success comes in a number of forms, it could be getting the exam results needed to get into the university of your choice, passing your driving test the first time or after multiple attempts.
Then again it could be getting a high-flying job and earning lots of money and being able to buy a large home and expensive car so that the world can see the trappings of your wealth.
While it could also mean being a member of a football squad that wins a major competition like the World Cup after the years of training and honing your skill.
There are other forms of success that probably many do not even consider, the military veteran who lost limbs during a war being able to walk again and live life fairly normally after having prosthetic limbs fitted, or someone in the depths of depression managing to get out of bed for the first time in days or weeks.
All these things are measures of success to different people, but what do those who are perceived to be or have been successful have to say?
The wartime prime minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, said, “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Albert Einstein, the German-born theoretical physicist, said “Failure is success in progress.”
British entrepreneur Richard Branson said, “Don’t measure your success by the amount of money you make.”
Bill Gates the US founder of Microsoft and philanthropist said, “I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.”
It seems that for these four people no one should be afraid of failure and that earning lots of money is not the be-all and end-all of everything.
Many people compare themselves to others when it comes to their perception of success, just because someone gets a better grade in an exam than you doesn’t mean they are better than you. It could be that they are just good at taking exams. It also doesn’t mean that they will be more successful than you in the future either as they may not be able to cope with life in the real world. So the best thing is don’t compare yourself to anyone else but yourself.
In special education classes around the world the students are taught to do things to the best of their abilities, which are generally not academic, but they may be good with their hands and become successful artists or artistes. For example, a number of successful actors and film directors have dyslexia, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg being prime examples.
For me there is no point being successful if you are unhappy. There is no point in grinding away to make millions of pounds if every morning you wake up and don’t want to go to work.
I always say that there are 24 hours in a day, you sleep on average eight hours a day, have eight hours to commute, eat, spend time with your family and play and on average you spend eight hours at work. Why would you want to be miserable for a third of your life?
Make sure that you measure success in your own way by doing something that makes you happy.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
