One Man's Success Is Not Another's

How do you define success?

 Each of us have personal needs, perspectives, backgrounds, ethics, morals, priorities, and self image, that are major factors in our personal perception of success.

 Although what being successful differs, often widely, from individual to individual, some factors that are often brought up include: financial; peace of mind, and happiness; self - confidence; personal pride; and self - satisfaction.

 Perhaps the only essential and consistent component or necessity of becoming successful is that you are able to truly feel good about your motivations, behaviors, actions, and what you actually do. Defining success must not be a generalized concept, but is, in reality, one of the most personal of concepts and behaviors.

1. Have you ever observed someone who is clearly financially and career - related successful, but never appears happy, contented, or at ease? If this meant they were successful, why aren't they smiling, and why don't they appear happy? While financial security and career success are certainly factors in the overall condition, unless they are only one aspect, the objective is rarely arrived at

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2. There can never be true and absolute success without obtaining a good degree of peace of mind, or what is 

sometimes referred to as a sort of quiet calm and inner peace. There is always a need for a balance between career, personal life, adventure, curiosity, goal seeking, family life, health and real happiness! Far too often, some of the most unsatisfied and even miserable individuals are the most financially secure and biggest earners.

3. A necessity must be obtaining and attaining a good degree of self - confidence, and feeling comfortable in one's self. How can one be considered successful if he isn't happy, nor even feels good about himself and what he does? Requirements, therefore, must include: a high personal ethical and moral code; a vision, goals and action that are in sync with each other; and avoidance of constant self - doubt!

4. Are you proud of yourself? Do you do the right thing? Are your goals pride inducing? Is your pride based on morals, ethics, and a commitment to a meaningful contribution to society, etc?

5. Are you self - satisfied, and even more essentially, is your self - satisfaction justified by your behavior? Do you focus on those things that make you feel better about your life?

When was the last time you thought about what success meant to you personally? How would being truly successful make you feel, and why?

Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, and Director of Development, as well as a consultant. He has professionally run events, consulted to over a thousand leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for over 30 years. Rich has written three books and well over a thousand articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebookhttp://facebook.com/Plan2lead