What Does Success Mean to You?
Carol Stewart MSc, FIoL
Coaching Psychologist | Executive, Career, Leadership Coach Specialising in Introverted Leaders, Women, & Underrepresented Groups – Coaching You to Lead with Confidence, Influence, and Impact | Speaker | Trainer
Nearly everyone you speak to is in pursuit of it. Some achieve it, some don’t. Some don’t even know what it means to them.
There are untold books, courses, programmes, you name it, that can show you how to achieve it. You can spend a fortune in pursuit of it. But what is it really? What is success?
Success means different things to different people and sometimes we have an ideology of what success should be, based on someone else’s terms.
It’s a bit like trying to reach the end of a rainbow
A lot of people automatically think that to be successful you have to have a high position in society, oodles of money in the bank and spend their entire lives working hard to achieve it. They never get there because the goal post keeps on moving but wear themselves out working tirelessly, telling themselves, one day...
It is a bit like trying to reach the end of a rainbow. If you’re not careful, you will continuously chase it, never getting there and letting life pass you by along the way.
A lot of us have already achieved it but just can’t see that it is right under our nose. We are too busy chasing someone else’s success, or are never satisfied with what we’ve got.
We fail to enjoy the success of the here and now.
We have forgotten how to be content with what we’ve got
Somewhere along the line we have forgotten how to be content with what we’ve got. It’s not that we shouldn’t pursue bigger, better or more. It’s about learning to be content no matter what our circumstances.
It’s about being content whether we have a little or whether we have a lot. That, in my opinion, is when we can truly enjoy life.
Many of us work all the hours God sends, so busy building that we forget to enjoy the journey. Life passes us by. Time we will never get back again. We miss out on the things that really matter, the things that are dear to our hearts.
We often define success by someone else’s standard. But who says that is what or how it should be?
The Cambridge dictionary defines success as the results wanted or hoped for. When it comes to pursuing success, this means the achieving of the results YOU want or hope for. Not your next door neighbour... not your friends... not your parents.... not the media.
Define your own measure of success
Define your own measure of success, based on what really matters to you. The things that give your life meaning and purpose. If this is having a more than healthy bank account so that you can have the freedom you love, so be it. If it means having to count the pennies but you have a home that is full of love and laughter, so be it.
Whatever success means to you, learn to be content no matter what your circumstance. Life will be so much more enjoyable for you if you do.
What is the point of pursuing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if it means you are too stressed and worn out to enjoy it when you get there?
To me success is utilising my skills and abilities in a way that is sufficiently challenging and rewarding, whilst making a positive impact to peoples’ lives and generating sufficient income from it. It is also about living a meaningful and purposeful life.
What does success mean to you?
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ABOUT ME:
I am a Personal Development, Career, Business Coach, Writer, Speaker, UK top 50 Business Adviser and the founder of Abounding Solutions. I help women to be authentic, bold, confident leaders and excel in their careers and businesses. I also help organisations develop the talent pipeline of women employees so that more women make it to senior management roles.
I write here on LinkedIn, on my website and on Huffington Post on subjects to help women achieve optimal potential in their careers and businesses.
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8yLovely to read carol, especially for me at this stage of life :)
Experienced communication practitioner. A realistic optimist who embraces digital transformation.
8yBeing rich is not a success & being poor is not a failure. For me success is when I can make myself useful to others and continue doing good deeds in life.
Success, to me, CAROL STEWART MSc, FInstLM, is to affect every single person that comes my way - positively. If I profit financially from our encounter - that's fine; but ultimate success to me is 'a positive impact upon every single person I encounter, through a word, a deed, or a touch'.
Relationship Coach, Writer, Speaker, and Radio Show Host
8ySuccess just means accomplishment. Reaching your goals. Whatever they may be. This country has distorted that word to mean only specific goals. Certain accomplishments, but not others. You can be SUCCESSFULLY lazy. When people come to me for my services, they are disheartened by the fact that they are "successful", but not happy. I have to teach them how to get in touch with their own, personal happiness and accept that it has nothing to do with what they may have accomplished.