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specialists in enhancement and management of human performance |
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This seems to be an easy question. Asked of hundreds of people, the initial answer is nearly always about money, early retirement, sometimes a career pinnacle, or fame. I've polled business executives, high school students, and Average Joes and Janes. These answers come without thinking, automatically. It's part of our national conversation: we create a business or take a job in order to attain it. It is a concept we build our lives around, yet it seems that most people don't REALLY know what it is. This question might well elicit a different answer in a different culture. Americans want the end result... as if once achieved, one would live "happily ever after." Funny that no one considers that "happily ever after" is a fairy tale: problems will continue to show up, circumstances change, and life must be attended to. Observing people who have achieved such material goals, one notices they get restless after a time, wanting new goals. Or they lose themselves in daily routine. Many people spend their time and energy chasing money, power, recognition or things, and find no joy or peace when they get there. Any happiness is short-lived, or they aren't energized by reaching the goal. By definition, they have success, but are they "happy ever after?" If you ask, "Are you successful?" they might say "Yes." But do they love their lives? Continuing the inquiry, interesting information is revealed. Again, regardless of age, position, material assets or record of achievement, people get thoughtful: they actually begin to consider the question. Material desires are typically a means of supporting the other things they want, not strictly an end. The new goals they name are rarely material, and always what brings happiness, fulfillment and meaning to their lives. They might desire personal achievement, dreams probably harbored for a long time. People include family, relationships, contributing to their communities or others. They name interests they want to pursue, education, creating a home they love. Does success involve wanting and achieving? Of course, but would you consider yourself successful for all time if you only achieved one big goal? Doesn't your definition of success includes all areas of life, not just work, money, leisure and adulation? In your work, what do you passionately want to achieve? What if success encompasses what's truly meaningful to you, not what society expects, not the glossy symbols of the "good life?" Bill Gates has more money than God, he "owns" 95% of the world's PC's, and he could easily retire rather than battle his competitors or the Justice Department. Most people might think he's won the game. Yet, he's not done! Why would he subject himself to more struggle and risk losing to others? If tremendous results came your way quickly and with little effort, would you be content to spend the rest of your life vegetating on the beach of your choice? Wouldn't you get bored, given enough time? If after every success is a hunger for something else to work for, then can success ever be complete? Success is measured in achieving, with some frequency. Insurance statistics show that men die, on average, within 18 months of retirement: they aren't producing anything of value in the world, and aren't challenged, so they unconsciously conclude they have no reason to live. Those productively engaged in the world (or pursuing personal goals) live longer, more vital lives! In work with scores of people, I find that people are happy, fulfilled, energized, healthy and consider themselves successful when they are pursuing personally meaningful goals, making strides towards achieving them, and finding new ways to challenge, stretch and demand more of themselves in the process. When you've felt successful, has this been true for you? At some point in life, when people have attained "enough" material wealth, possessions, power, fame, and other personal gain, they shift their goals to contributing to others around them: family, friends, community, the world. Some people take longer to reach "enough," or their criteria are higher than others. It seems that nearly everyone has a balance of personal-gain goals, career goals, social goals, and goals focused on the world around them. When you stand at the Pearly Gates, reviewing your life, isn't this how you'll assess it? If you lived most of your life this way, aren't you content with that life? If this is true for you, as it is for all the people I talk to, what are you going for, in your life and work? How do you measure your success? How do you create every day to add up to a successful life? Define what "success" means to you, today, and you change your future: attain greater results you truly desire, alter the quality of your life, and leave the mark in the world that matters. You'll discover that you are more irresistible in business, and every other part of life! You'll reap ease, happiness, wealth and health that you'll share with those around you. And that's a life you can be proud of.
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POBox 9635