How Do You Define Success and The Real Meaning Behind (Must Read)

Success is something that we all dream about all day. It is something so many people are chasing for. So what is success?

If you want to live a successful life in all areas of your life, be it financially, spiritually, in your relationship, in your career, etc, you must first understand the meaning of success.

Most people have no idea what success is. They thought that being successful is having a lot of money. Is being rich successful?

The Illusion of Success

As human beings, we tend to blend in and live along with other people. And so, we come to believe that being successful is all about getting rich.

Living a successful life is not just about getting rich, it is more than that. If you look at the advertisements on how the media portrays a successful person, you will often see that being successful is about being rich.

Driving a sports car, owning a big villa by the beach, traveling first class overseas, dining in the finest restaurant in town, etc.

This is just how society looks at success at large. People will look at you as successful if you have:

1. Fame
2. Money
3. Power

Thus, does that mean that if you don’t have any of these 3 things mentioned above, you are not successful?

Some people who have fame and are famous like celebrities such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan; they seem to have everything that most people can only admire, but they are on drugs, and why is this so?

What about people who have the money? Are they successful? We have heard a lot of news about people who are rich but they feel depressed all the time. And if you have the power, does that mean you are a success?

You see, success can be many things to different people. Some people want money, some people want to be famous, some people want to have power and yet, some people want all money, fame, and power.

It is your mission to find out what success truly means to you before you take on the journey.

Most people never really define what success means to them, and that is why they get lost in the middle of their journey.

The first step you need to do to achieve outstanding success in life is to first find out what is your own definition of success.

How Do You Define Success?

Success can be anything for different people. I have heard people tell me that once they have $1 million in their bank account, they will be successful. I have also heard people tell me that once they were promoted to the director of their company, they will be successful.

The problem is that success will never come to you overnight. And do you really need to wait until you become a millionaire only to see yourself as successful?

Ken Honda, the best-selling author of Happy Money, wrote in his book that he interviewed thousands of rich people.

when he asked someone who has made a million dollars, “Do you feel rich?” The answer he got is this, “No, because I’m yet to make $10 million.”

And when he asked someone who has made $10 million, “Do you feel rich?” Again, the answer he got is this, “No, because I’m yet to make $100 million.”

And when he asked someone who has made over $100 million the same question, “Do you feel rich?”, again, the answer he got is, “No, because I’m yet to own a private jet.”

And finally, he asked someone who owned a private jet, “Do you feel rich?” Guess what answer he got? “No, because my private jet is only a 6-seater!”

Well then, what is the true meaning of success?

If success has nothing to do with money, power, or fame, how can you tell when you are successful?

Let me give you an example. Let’s just imagine that you started a computer business and are trying to make your business successful.

In the first year, things are new and tough for you. You try hard and you work hard, but by the end of the year, you did not make any money at all, instead, you lost $100,000 into your business.

In the second year, you decided to try again and work hard on your business. And toward the end of the second year, you found that you improved a little, but still, you lost $50,000 this year. Again, not making any profit.

You told yourself that you will never give up no matter what and you will do whatever it takes to make your business successful. So for the next 3 years, you work extremely hard. You learn from all your mistakes and you go the extra mile.

Finally, at the end of the fifth year, you made a nice profit of $1 million from your business.

The question now is this: Are you successful when you hit the $1 million profit mark by the end of the fifth year?

Most people will say yes, but what about the first few years when you worked so hard and put in so much effort to grow the business? Are you not successful then?

You see, your success is not the result of a single decision or action, or event. And your success will never come to you in the short term.

The problem with most people is that they have been conditioned by society that success is something that they achieved; which in this example, is the final results and when you hit the $1 million mark.

We all know that we are successful as long as we work hard toward our goals and our dreams.

Just like the example given above, if it takes 5 years to grow your business from loss to making $1 million in profit, are you not successful in the first year? Are you not successful in the second year?

You are successful as long as you are making progress toward your goals.

Read: 15 Signs Your Life is Progressing on the Right Track

Success Is A Journey

I know you have heard about this many times before. People said that success is a journey, not a destination. And this is exactly what it means when you apply this ideology to the example above.

As long as you are moving toward your goals, you are successful. As long as you take action and take one small step toward your dreams, you are considered as successful.

It is the person that you become along the journey that will make you successful. It is the character that you have built that will determine your success.

Money, fame, and power are just the external rewards of how our society and the media measure success.

Physical items such as money, cars, houses, resorts, private jets, etc are just the by-products of your hard work along the journey. They are not going to determine your success.

Many people have been conditioned to believe that they are successful ONLY when they achieved their goals, which is not really true.

You don’t have to wait until you make a million dollars only to see yourself as a success. That is getting things backward.

Instead, look at yourself as a success right now. Feel it, enjoy it, and work for it.

This way, you will happily achieve rather than postpone your happiness and go through a grueling journey only to feel good when you reach the destination.

Success By Choice

Success is by choice and not by chance. It is not like one day you wake up and you have $1 million in your bank account. It is not like you get back from work one day and suddenly your house has turned into a big bungalow.

No, success is not by chance, it is by choice and by design. If you want to achieve something, you have to first set it as a goal, create a plan, design what you should do to achieve it, and consistently take action until you reach it.

And don’t be afraid of making mistakes. People will remember your successes more than your failures. And as long as you never quit, you will never fail.

In fact, mistakes are the feedback that tells you where you need to improve so that you will do better in the future.

Can you imagine a toddler who is learning to walk and fall down? If the toddler falls down, does that mean she is a failure? Are you going to call her a failure? Are you going to stop him or her from trying to walk again?

Of course not, you will encourage the toddler to stand up again and try to walk again. You did not shut him or her down. That’s why everyone walks.

The same goes for business and in life. Never be afraid of making mistakes. If you are running your own business right now, don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be afraid to do something creative. Don’t be afraid to get to new grounds. Just do it.

And if you have an idea to start your business, don’t be afraid to do it. Everything that you want is out of your comfort zone. You just need to go out there and get it.

This is what success truly means.

So, What Does Success Means to You?

Ask yourself this question right now, “What does success means to me?” How can you tell when you have reached your success? How do you know if you are successful?

You have to understand and clearly define your success before you can reach them. Most people will just go through life without knowing exactly what they want. They will just wander around, following the crowd, and by the end of it, they get nowhere.

If you want to build an online business that will make you a millionaire, you have to understand that as long as you take action and move toward this goal each day, you are considered a success.

You don’t have to wait until you make a million dollars from your business after 2 years only to consider yourself as successful.

If you want to lose weight and you get to the gym to workout, you should celebrate your win and you are successful for that day.

If you want to be a successful salesman, as long as you make the cold calls, do your sales presentation, meet up with your clients, try your best to sell your services and products, you are successful even though you did not close the sale in the end.

So, know exactly what you want. Create a plan and take action consistently to make progress.

Read: 13-Step Plan How to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams

Turn Failure Into Success

Take a look at the events of this man. You will learn that he has a long list of failures and setbacks, but eventually, he emerged as a winner with a strong will and a mentality of never giving up…

Lost job, 1832
Defeated for legislature, 1832
Failed in business, 1833
Elected to legislature, 1834
Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
Had nervous breakdown, 1836
Defeated for Speaker, 1838
Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
Elected to Congress, 1846
Lost renomination, 1848
Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
Defeated for Senate, 1854
Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
Again defeated for Senate, 1858
Elected President, 1860
– The life of Abraham Lincoln

Here’s one of Michael Jordan’s famous quotes:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

If you want to be successful, you have to learn how to turn failure into feedback and use feedback to catapult you to greater success.

It is said that if you have never failed before, you have never truly lived. It is alright to fail, as long as you never give up and quit. As Helen Keller once said:

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Read: 3 Fundamental Principles How to Turn Failure Into Success

Conclusion

So now you know the real meaning of what it means to be successful. Success is all about taking the small actions, consistently, day in and day out, to produce the small results that will accumulate and bring you the big success that you want over the long term.

Of course, the first thing you need to do is to identify what is the outcome you are looking for. Do you want to be a millionaire? Do you want to help to create shelters for the homeless? Do you want to race camels in Egypt? Do you want to travel the world and get to the most exotic locations on Earth? What do you really want out of your life? How can you tell when you have achieved the success you want?

Once you defined your success, take time to plan for your strategy and craft the action plan. And after that, take massive and consistent action until you get the results you want.