"Success is a journey, not a destination."--Ben Sweetland
Most of us want very much to be successful in life. And many of us long for the day when we can look back and conclude, without any doubt, that our life was a big success. But do any of us ever really reach that point? If success is a journey, not a destination, shouldn't we measure success on an ongoing basis? Although we may conclude at given points in our life that we have been successful up to that point, will we not want to continue on the journey? Will most of us not want to continue to live meaningful and satisfying lives until the day we die?
Success means different things to different people. Some people seem to think that to be successful one has to achieve fame and fortune. But that is not the case. We are successful when we achieve the goals that we set for ourselves, so long as those goals challenge us. Some people may set goals of becoming rich and famous. But most of us simply want to live meaningful lives. We want to do a good job at whatever we do. We want to love and be loved. We want to make life better, not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. Since we all have different talents and different opportunities in life, success should be a measure of how effectively we use our individual talents given the opportunities that are available to us.
For most of us, our goals change as we go through life. When we are young, we may aspire to such things as having a rewarding career, and getting married and raising a family. At a later point in life, we may have accomplished these goals and we may look forward to a meaningful and rewarding retirement. We may want to spend more time with loved ones, and try new things.
I think the biggest mistake most of us make when we think about success is to compare our accomplishments in life with those of other people. Success is not to be measured by the status we achieve in life, relative to that of others. Instead, our standard for measuring success should be what we have done with the talents and opportunities that we have been given.
Logan Pearsall Smith once wrote, "How can they say my life isn't a success? Have I not for more than sixty years gotten enough to eat and escaped being eaten?" According to this definition, just surviving and providing for one's need's is success. I believe we need a higher standard than this. If we accept just surviving and providing for our own needs as success, we demote the human species to the level of other animals. As human beings, shouldn't we try to make life better for others, as well as for ourselves, as we travel the journey of success? .
Copyright 2014 Allen Smith
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