Success means something different to everyone. To some people it may mean financial wealth, to some it may mean having a loving family. Some people may define success as having good health and well-being, while others may say it is fame.
But whatever one’s personal definition of success is, at the heart of it we all seem to have one thing in common: when we feel fulfilled in a personally meaningful way, we consider ourselves successful. At the same time, we usually find that success tends to feel hollow or shallow unless it is in service to something greater than purely personal gain. Physical or mental success eventually fails us when we lack a spiritual connection to it.
How can we find and sustain that sense of meaningful fulfillment? Regardless whether we seek success in relationships, business, finance, health or other area of life, there are some steps that propel us toward it:
- Be open to succeed. When we put limitations or conditions on what success should look or feel like, we limit its possibility in our lives.
- Find what you are passionate about. Most highly successful people do what they love, and they do it for the love of it.
- Be diligent in your effort. Work hard and have fun at it. That’s why doing what you’re passionate about is so important – so you can enjoy the effort and stay with it.
- Practice. Get really good at it. Practice builds competence, competence builds confidence, and confidence builds success.
- Develop a singleness of purpose. Focus your attention and energy on your passion, and let go of what does not serve it.
- Have a purpose. Do what you love in service to a bigger purpose than feeding your ego, your wallet, etc. Success without meaning feels empty after a time.
- Push the envelope. Challenge yourself, stretch yourself, find your growing edge and step past it. Do the thing you think you cannot do.
- Be curious and creative. Learn all you can about your passion. Ask questions. Invent new ways to do what you do. Seek fresh perspectives.
- Be resilient. Persist in pursuing your passion even when life seems to resist or derail your every move.
- Be generous. Share what you learn and what you achieve with others. Teach, mentor, volunteer or otherwise share the gifts you receive from following your passion.
- Be grateful. A thankful heart and a gracious attitude attracts and empowers success.
- Finally, let go of the outcome. Things may not turn out exactly as you project. Expectation can be a set-up for disappointment, while joyfully doing what you love is success in itself.