I am always fascinated by how people choose to respond to various
situations. Quite often, an individual’s response gives me a clue about who the
person really is, and what that person thinks about himself or herself.
I was quite interested in the response that I received concerning the
"success stories" column in the Pinnacle Perspective (http://www.uncommoncourtesy.com/newsletter.htm).
For the past few weeks, I have made it a point to ask each new subscriber to
send me his or her own personal success story. I also posted a notice in the
previous edition of the newsletter asking for people to send me success stories.
I received quite a few responses, but they all seemed to indicate that the
writer did not think of himself or herself as "successful."
These responses reminded me that many people view success as something
that will occur in the future. It is something that will be bestowed upon them
after reaching their ultimate goal. Such a definition of success is
self-defeating. It requires that a person postpone a positive definition of the
self for years and sometimes decades.
If you think that you are someone who will be successful at some time
in the future, then by necessity a small part of you must think that you are
unsuccessful at this time. This is not true! The way that you should view
success is as a process that you engage in throughout your life, not as a
singular outcome that will happen in the future. That process is the road of
success that you travel upon while climbing toward your Personal Pinnacle of
Success.* Allow me to point out a few aspects of success and being successful
which will reinforce the notion that success is a life pattern rather than an
outcome of achieving a singular goal:
In actuality, you are successful at this very moment. If you examine
your life history, you will be able to identify many moments during which
you felt successful. Each of these moments were what I refer to as
"experiences of success" or "successful experiences." Additionally, each of
these moments adds to sum of the successes that you experience during your
lifetime.
Your definition of what it means to be successful will change over
time. With each successful experience, there will come an adjustment of your
definition of success. Most successful people will set a new, and higher,
goal for themselves immediately after achieving a previously desired goal.
You may sometimes forget how successful you have become because you have
lost sight of all of your past experiences of success.
Becoming successful is a gradual process. Each new successful
experience in your life increases the total of your successful experiences.
It is easy to forget how far you have traveled along the road toward your
Personal Pinnacle of Success* unless you take the time to write a
performance evaluation for yourself that encompasses the past five to ten
years. This exercise is well worth the time and effort because it will help
you to see the success that you have experienced, and thereby enhance your
confidence level and the probability of experiencing future successes. It
will also help you to develop a list of achievable goals for the next five
to ten years of your life.
Your next successful experience is often hiding just behind the
roadblock that you think stands before you at this moment. Developing
creative strategies to solve a current problem will often result in an
avalanche of positive unintended consequences. Some of the best ideas in
human history have been developed in the face of adversity.
Your next successful experience may also result from assuming a
flexible or adaptive stance in response to a roadblock. As the old saying
goes, "When life gives you lemons, you must make lemonade!"
You must begin to intrinsically think of yourself as a success in
order to become more successful in the future. If you adopt a mindset that
you cannot achieve something or are ultimately doomed to failure, you will
fail. If you decide that you will find some how or some way to achieve your
goals, then you will move forward in your life and experience a large number
of successes.
The pattern of success in your life directly results from your own
dogged determination and will to overcome any obstacle. Time
Magazine’s recent article about exceptional students** noted that a key
quality of many talented students is persistence. They set high goals for
themselves. They keep working at a project until they are satisfied with the
results. Their drive inevitably propels them toward a future filled with
successful experiences. Those same qualities are clearly visible in most
successful adults.
Successful experiences will occur in different areas of your life at
different times in your life. So many people limit their definition of
success to the area of work. As I noted in "The Personal Pinnacle of
Success: Defining Success and Climbing the Mountain on Your Own Terms" ,
there are five key areas in your life. If you develop each area fully, you
will have successful experiences in each area. However, it is unlikely that
you will be highly successful in each area at the same time. Therefore, when
you feel that you are not making progress in one area at the break neck
speed that you desire, consider the progress that you are making in other
areas. Allow yourself to savor successful experiences in each area of your
life, rather than over-focusing on your career.
Success comes to those who seek it. Your future experience of
success is, in part, determined by the road map that you develop. If you
travel through life without an action plan, it is almost assured that you
will experience frustration and a sense of failure. In order to achieve the
success that you desire, you must determine where it is that you want to go
and how you will get there.
Success is a pattern in your life rather than an outcome of it. If
success was determined merely by reaching a single goal, then why would you
continue on in life after you have reached that goal? Living a full and
successful life is a process of setting, achieving, and setting new goals in
each of the five key areas of life. In that you can never achieve perfection
in any area of life, there will always be something to work on, something
new to achieve, and new experiences to enjoy!
Today is the day to begin viewing yourself as a successful person.
Consider your past experiences of success. Savor your present successful
experiences. Develop a plan to expand your life to include more success in the
days to come. The challenge for every human being is to make the most of the
time that has been granted to him or her. There will never be another
opportunity to rewind your life and experience it again. You cannot correct past
mistakes or opportunities that have been lost, but you can decide to use them as
stepping stones to future successes. You can also make the decision that you
will begin to view yourself as a successful person. You can also challenge
yourself to live a full, satisfying, and exciting life in the years to come.
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This article (including the copyright notice) may be reprinted
with the following the following attachment:
More than 200 holiday, religious, educational, and diversity
bingo games and concentration sets available . Bingo games for adults and
children to play at home, school, church, corporate meetings, and just about
anywhere you can imagine. Games made to order for every occasion. Motivational
articles and personal growth exercises too! Visit
http://www.uncommoncourtesy.com
today!
